The Greater Honeyguide (Indicator indicator) is a honeyguide. Honeyguides (family Indicatoridae) are near passerinebirds related to the woodpeckers. They have an Old World tropical distribution.
The Greater Honeyguide is a resident breeder in sub-SaharanAfrica. It is found in a variety of habitats, especially dry open woodland.
This species is a nest parasite, laying its single white egg in the tree or bank holes of woodpeckers, barbets, kingfishers and bee-eaters. It will also use the nests of some large swallows. The chick has a hook on the bill used to kill or wound the host's young.
The Greater Honeyguide is about 20cm long and weighs around 50 g. The male has dark grey-brown upperparts and white underparts, with a black throat. The wings are streaked whitish, and there is a yellow shoulder patch. The bill is pink.
The female is duller and lacks the black throat and yellow shoulder patch. Her bill is blackish. Immature birds are very distinctive, having uniformly brown upperparts and yellow underparts.
These birds feed on bees and wasps, together with their honey and wax. The English and scientific names both refer to their habit of leading humans or suitable large mammals, such as the ratel or "honey badger", to bees' nests. When the larger species breaks into the nest, the honeyguides will take their share too.
Reference
Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ISBN 1-873403-32-1
Honeyguidebirds, also known as honey birds, indicator birds, and simply honeyguides, (family Indicatoridae) are several dull-colored near passerinebird species of the order Piciformes, notable for their method of obtaining food.
In addition to being a bee predator, a mutualist with its follower species, and a symbiont with its wax-digesting bacteria, the honeyguide is a brood parasite.
Honeyguide nestlings have been known to physically eject their host's chicks from the nest, and in some honeyguide species have hooks on their beaks with which to more easily wound or kill.
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