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The red-billed oxpecker has an extremely varied diet centered around eating parasites and other small prey found on large wild mammals. Their primary food source is ticks such as the brown ear tick, bont tick, and blue tick. Oxpeckers can consume over 100 blood-engorged ticks daily.

The red-billed oxpecker nests in tree holes lined with hair plucked from livestock. It lays 2-5 eggs, with three being the average. Outside the breeding season it forms large, chattering flocks. Show More The preferred habitat is open country, and the red-billed oxpecker eats insects.

The Red-billed Oxpecker, or Tick-bird, is the East African representative of a genus that has always excited interest by reason of the peculiar feeding habits of its members. They obtain the whole of their food on the bodies of the larger Herbivora, and their abnormally sharp claws permit them to travel in any direction and to visit every spot ...