Buphagus erythrorhynchus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The red-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorynchus) is a passerine bird in the oxpecker family, Buphagidae. It is native to the eastern savannah of sub-Saharan Africa, from the Central African Republic east to South Sudan and south to northern and eastern South Africa. It is more widespread than the yellow-billed oxpecker in Southern Africa, where their ranges overlap.
The scientific name comes from Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), meaning "ox", and φάγος (phágos), meaning "eater". The specific name comes from ἐρυθρός (eruthrós), meaning "red", and ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos), meaning "snout". The red-billed oxpecker is a native of the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa. It ranges across Ethiopia and Somalia through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia to southern Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, and north-eastern South Africa.
A juvenile oxpecker is darker brown than its parents. Its bill is dark olive at first, but gradually takes on adult colouration after four months. Its flight is strong and direct, and their call is a hissy crackling trik-quisss.
The red-billed oxpecker nests in tree holes lined with hair plucked from... Wikipedia →
Recording0:13
South Africa · 2024
© Sascha Schumann · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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South Africa · 2018
© magdastlucia · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
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South Africa · 2023
© Malcolm Douglas · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tierpark Hagenbeck | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red-billed Oxpecker sighting in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, based on 156 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 76th most-seen of the 345 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May, July and September–October
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Red-billed Oxpecker in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, against about 10% in February, the lowest month.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-billed Oxpecker sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
28th of 41
Of the 41 parks where we can rate Red-billed Oxpecker sightings, Tsavo East National Park ranks 28th at about 20%. The best odds are in uMkhuze Game Reserve (South Africa, about 70%), Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (South Africa, about 60%) and Nairobi National Park (Kenya, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-billed Oxpecker is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo East National Park (156 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
