honeyguide

(also known as ‘indicator bird’ or ‘honey bird’) a kind of bird – related to woodpeckers – small elongated body with dull grey or black feathers (some kinds have yellow colour patches on the body), streaks on the sides of the wings, clear white patches on the tail feathers; pointed beak (bill); size: 4-8 inches long and weight varies; feeds on bee wax and  honey comb, small insects and, some kinds, on ants and termites, and occasionally on fruit; about 17 species (kinds) found mostly in Africa and some in Asia

Special Features:

Honeyguides can eat and digest bee wax!  They eat the eggs, larvae and the wax of the honey comb of the honey-making insects, such as honeybees, wasps, etc!

a honeyguide guiding honey badger to a bees’ nest

It is believed that in order to get to the honey nests, the honeyguide lures, encourages or even guides people and other large mammals that feed on honey, such as ratel or honey badger, to the honey nest built in the earth or in the hollows of rocks or trees.  And once the stronger animals break open the nest and take their share of the honey or honey combs, the honeyguide takes its own share of the wax, the eggs and the larvae from that nest! {Some bird experts argue that there is no foolproof evidence to support this belief that honey-guides lead people or other animals to the honeybee nests!} Honeyguides are ‘brood parasites’, i.e., like the ‘cuckoo bird’, they lay their eggs in the nests of the other birds!!  The other birds, the host birds, take care of the eggs, feed the hatchlings when the eggs hatch, and take care of the honeyguide chicks as their own until the chicks leave their nests!! <<< Back to List H —-    Next … hookworm >>>