honey guide Indicatoridae passerine Piciformes Prodotiscus Africa Asia
Honeyguides, (family Indicatoridae), are near passerine bird species of the order Piciformes. They are also known as indicator birds, or honey birds, although the latter term is also used more narrowly to refer to species of the genus Prodotiscus. They have an Old World tropical distribution, with the greatest number of species in Africa and two in Asia. Most honeyguides are dull-colored, though a few have bright yellow in the plumage. All have light outer tail feathers, which are white in all the African species. They are among the few birds that feed regularly on wax—beeswax in most species, and presumably the waxy secretions of scale insects in the genus Prodotiscus and to a lesser extent in Melignomon and the smaller species of Indicator. They also feed on the larvae and on waxworms (caterpillars of Galleria mellonella) in bee colonies, and on flying and crawling insects, spiders, and occasional fruits. Many species join mixed-species feeding flocks. Honeyguides are named for a remarkable habit seen in one or two species: they guide humans, and possibly other large mammals (such as the Honey Badger) to bee colonies. Once the mammal opens the hive and takes the honey, the bird feeds on the remaining wax and larvae. This behavior is well studied in the Greater Honeyguide; some authorities (following Friedmann, 1955) state that it also occurs in the Scaly-throated Honeyguide, while others disagree (Short and Horne, 2002). One researcher found use of honeyguides by the Boran people of East Africa reduces the search time of people for honey by approximately two-thirds. Because of this benefit, the Boran use a specific loud whistle, known as the "Fuulido", when a search for honey is about to begin. The "Fuulido" doubles the encounter rate with honeyguides Although most members of the family are not known to recruit "followers" in their quest for wax, they are also referred to as "honeyguides" by linguistic extrapolation.
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