Sandgrouse 21 (2): 1999
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The first Red-billed Oxpecker Buphagus erythrorhynchus in Yemen and the Middle East

PHIL HANSBRO AND DAVE SARGEANT
  ON 5 APRIL 1998, while trying to gain access to Aden marsh, brief views were obtained of a flushed bird as it flew behind some trees. Our immediate impressions were of a grey starling-like bird with pale cream underparts. DS suggested Wattled Starling Creatophora cinerea very scarce visitor to Yemen and we proceeded to search for it. It was soon located, feeding on the back of a cow, which, combined with the bird's jizz, immediately suggested it was an oxpecker. The bare part colours were immediately checked and the identification, as Red-billed Oxpecker Buphagus erythrorhynchus, confirmed. As the bird flitted from cow-to-cow it was clear that most of the cattle did not appreciate its presence and were unaccustomed to such attention. PH managed to take two photographs from a distance which serve to confirm its identity (see photograph). On closer approach, the bird took flight. It was seen twice more, during the next two hours, both times in flight.
Description Size, appearance and jizz of starling-like bird with cream coloured underparts and mid- grey upperparts. Large bright red bill and eye-ring also this colour, contrasting with the bright yellow iris. it, characteristically for the species, hitched rides and fed from the backs and heads of domestic cows.
Red-billed Oxpecker in Yemen Red-billed Oxpecker Buphagus erythrorhynchos, Aden marsh, Yemen, 5 April 1998. (Phil Hansbro)

This is the first record of Red-billed Oxpecker in Yemen and the Middle East. The species is widely distributed in open savannah in east and southern Africa from Angola north-west to Somalia and Djibouti, and south throughout the continent to north-east South Africa (Dowsett & Dowsett-Lemaire 1993, Sibley & Monroe 1990). In Somalia, it is a common and widespread resident breeder in the north- west and south, becoming rarer and even absent further east and north in the country (Ash & Miskell 1998).

REFERENCES

ASH, J. S. AND MISKELL, J. E. (1998) Birds of Somalia. Pica Press, Mountfield.
DOWSETT, R. J. AND DOWSETT-LEMAIRE, F. (1993) A contribution to the distribution and taxonomy of Afrotropical and Malagasy birds. Tauraco Press (Research Report No.5), Liege.
SIBLEY, C. G. AND MONROE, B. L., JNR. (1990) Distribution and taxonomy of the birds of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven & London.

Phil Hansbro, c/o Dept. of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Rood, Cambridge, U. K
Dave Sargaent, 34 Pine Walk, Weybourne, Holt, Norfolk, NR25 7HJ, U. K.
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