Scaly-throated honeyguide

Indicator variegatus

Photo by Steve Garvie (Flickr)

Common name:
scaly-throated honeyguide (en); indicador-de-garganta-malhada (pt); indicateur varié (fr); indicador variegado (es); strichelstirn-honiganzeiger (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Piciformes
Family Indicatoridae

Range:
This species is found in eastern and southern Africa, from Ethiopia, through Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and west to Angola and south to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and eastern South Africa.

Size:
These bird are 18-19 cm long and weigh about 60 g.

Habitat:
The scaly-throted honeyguide is mostly found in moist tropical forests, including coastal and riparian forests, but also uses dense miombo Brachystegia sp. savannas, scrublands and plantations. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 2.200 m.

Diet:
They feed mainly on beeswax and honey bees Apis melifera, which they often obtain by guiding humans or honey badgers Mellivora capensis to bee hives and then taking the spoils after the hive is opened. They also hunt other insects such as flies, aphids, beetles, ants and caterpillars, and occasionally eat figs.

Breeding:
These birds breed in September-January. They are polygynous and brood parasitic. The males are territorial and mate with multiple females within their territory, each female then laying 1 egg in the nest of a host, either a woodpecker, a barbet or a tinkerbird. The host incubates the egg for 18 days, after which the honeyguide chick will kill the other chicks in the nest. It is fed by the hosts and fledges 27-35 days after hatching, quickly becoming fully independent after fledging.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is reported to be relatively common and widespread. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Wahlberg's honeyguide

Prodotiscus regulus

Photo by Alan Manson (Flickr)

Common name:
Wahlberg's honeyguide (en); indicador-de-bico-aguçado (pt); indicateur de Wahlberg (fr); indicador dorsipardo (es); Wahlberglaubpicker (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Piciformes
Family Indicatoridae


Range:
This African species is patchily distributed in western Africa, mostly in and around Nigeria, and more widely found in eastern  Africa, from Tanzania and southern D.R. Congo to Angola, Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa.

Size:

These birds 15-18 cm long and weigh 12-16 g.

Habitat:

The Wahlberg's honeyguide is mostly found in dry savannas, but also in dry grasslands, scrublands, open woodlands, forest edges and also in plantations and rural gardens. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 2.000 m.

Diet:

They forage by gleaning insects from foliage, twigs and bark, taking aphids, tree hoppers, beetles, moths and caterpillars. They are also knonw to eat beeswax.

Breeding:

Wahlberg's honeyguides breed in November-January. They are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, usually cisticolid warblers such as Cisticola fulvicapilla, C. aberrans, C. lais, C. chiniana, C. rufilatus, C. tinniens, Camaroptera brevicaudata, Prinia subflava, P. flavicans and P. maculosa. The female lays 1-3 eggs which are incubated by the host. The chicks are fed by the host and fledge 17-21 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and is reported to be common. The species is suspected to be expanding its range in parts of South Africa as a result of tree planting.

Greater honeyguide

Indicator indicator

Common name:

greater honeyguide (en); indicador-grande (pt); grand indicateur (fr); indicador grande (es); schwarzkehl-honiganzeiger (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Piciformes

Family Indicatoridae

Range:

This African species is found throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal through the Sahel to Ethiopia, then south through the great lakes region and into Angola, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa.

Size:

The greater honeyguide is 18-20 cm long and weighs 50 g.

Habitat:

They are found in a wide range of habitats, such as woodlands, savanna, fynbos, grassland, riverine forest and rarely in miombo and Baikaiea plurijuga forests.

Diet:

The greater honeyguide feeds primarily on the contents of bee colonies, including eggs, larvae, pupae, waxworms and beeswax. They also eat other insects including termites, ants, moths and beetles. Like certain other honeyguides, they are known to guides mammals to bees nests, after which they scavange the remains for food. Interestingly, they are only known to guide humans, although it is possible they also guide honey badgers Mellivora capensis.

Breeding:

This species is a brood parasite, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, namely barbets. The host, thinking that the egg is its own, incubates the egg and cares for the chick. Among the host species are also woodpeckers, hoopoes and wood-hoopoes, kingfishers, bee-eaters, tits, swallows and martins, ant-chats, starlings and sparrows. The egg-laying season is in September-January, peaking in September-October, and the females lay series of 4-7 eggs, each in a different nest, laying about 21 eggs in the whole breeding season. The chicks stays in the nest for roughly 38 days, after which they are fed by the host for another 7-30 days.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least concern)

Although the global population size has not been quantified, the species is reported to be fairly common and widespread throughout its extremely large breeding range. The population is suspected to be increasing as ongoing habitat degradation is creating new areas of suitable habitat.