Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Oxpeckers Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family†: Sturnidae Genera Buphagus † See also myna, starling The oxpeckers are part of the family Sturndidae, along with the starlings and mynas. This is a group of passerine birds native to sub-Saharan African savannah. They are medium-sized passerines with strong feet. Their flight is strong and direct, and they are fairly gregarious. Their preferred habitat is open country, and they eat insects. Both the English and scientific names arise from their habit of perching on large wild and domesticated mammals such as cattle and eating ticks. Their plumage is light brown, and the species can be distinguished by bill-colour. They nest in holes. The species are: Red-billed Oxpecker, Buphagus erythrorhynchus of east Africa Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Buphagus africanus of most of sub-saharan Africa. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.