Red-billed oxpeckers to make Mountain Zebra park their home

Parasite eaters help keep wildlife and farm stock healthy and stock healthy

August 2010: A group of 40 red-billed oxpeckers are being flown into the Mountain Zebra National Park near Cradock in South Africa this month. The introduction of this brown-coloured bird with its characteristic red bill and bright yellow-ringed eye will benefit both the wildlife in the park and local stock farmers.

PEST CONTROLLERS:Red-billed oxpeckers, which are being introduced into Mountain Zebra National Park. The practice of dipping cattle had practically wiped out the parasite eaters from the Eastern Cape.

Oxpeckers fulfil an important role in the ecosystem, helping to keep wildlife free of parasites. The birds may benefit local stock farmers as they frequent nearby farms and feed on stock parasites, reducing the need to use pesticides on stock. The birds will spend one week in an aviary while they acclimatise to the local conditions, before being gradually released into the national park where it is hoped they will settle in and breed.

The oxpeckers were captured in the Kruger National Park and will be flown into the Mountain Zebra by the Mpongo Park near East London, which is also receiving 20 of the birds. Mountain Zebra National Park's honorary rangers initiated the oxpecker project, while the Endangered Wildlife Trust and Stormberg Raptor Rehabilitation Project were instrumental in sourcing the oxpeckers and providing technical advice.

Birds will eate mites, ear wax and even nose fluids
While in the aviary, the birds will be fed on a mixture of lean mince and blood, enriched with vitamins, minerals and electrolytes, to replicate their natural diet of ticks gleaned from animals. Apart from adult and larval ticks, oxpeckers feed on mites, insects such as blood-sucking flies, ear wax, wound tissue, skin flakes and nose fluids. Their presence in an ecosystem thus helps to improve the health of animals.

Red-billed oxpeckers were exterminated in the Eastern Cape in the early 1900s, largely due to the practice of dipping livestock with toxic chemicals. Oxpeckers feeding on dipped cattle would soon fall prey to the poisonous ticks they targeted. With plenty of large herbivores in the park such as zebra, kudu, eland and buffalo, the birds will have no shortage of food and the population should multiply.

South African National Parks is urging farmers in the area to use oxpecker-friendly pesticides and to report any sightings of oxpeckers on their farms. All birds will be ringed for identification purposes.

Oxpeckers have successfully been introduced to other conservation areas in the past, including Addo Elephant National Park.