A little birdie told us that the experts have spoken, and South Africa’s Bird of the Year (BOTY) for 2025 has officially been declared! A conservation success story and a special species that keeps ticks in check, meet the BOTY:
South Africa (25 November 2024) — BirdLife South Africa have spoken and South Africa’s Bird of the Year for 2025 has officially been declared. Taking on the baton from the 2024 Bird of the Year, the Bateleur, the 2025 bird to watch is the Red-billed Oxpecker!
Also known as the Rooibekrenostervoël (in Afrikaans) ihlalankomo (in isiZulu) and ihlalanyathi (isiXhosa), the Red-billed Oxpecker is set to be celebrated all year long.
A Conservation Success Story
“It is an aptly chosen Bird of the Year”, says Mark D. Anderson, BLSA’s Chief Executive Officer. While the oxpecker’s population was at one time shrinking in its South African range, conservationists celebrate its resilience and its notes as a “conservation success story” whose numbers have increased and its range expanded.
Not Just a Pretty Face
The Red-billed Oxpecker’s distinctive looks may make it a joy to spot, as visitors to the Kruger National Park and other protected areas will know, but it also serves an important function within the ecosystem—feeding on ticks!
You might have caught the bird crawl over antelope and other ungulates and feeding on the ticks that parasitise them. In this way, they perform not only a service to these hosts, but also to other players in their ecosystem by controlling tick populations.
It has been proposed that they also benefit their hosts by providing an early warning system of approaching danger; of particular interest is how this communication may help rhinoceroses avoid danger from poachers.
Expansion and New Friends
Dr Lorinda Hart, BirdLife South Africa’s Birds & Agrochemicals Project Manager explains how farmers have even teamed up with the oxypecker.
“Although the [oxypecker’s] population increase can partly be attributed to reintroductions into areas where they had previously been extirpated, farmers have assisted this useful species by…using more oxypecker-friendly alternatives to control ticks and other ectoparasites on their cattle and game.”
Dr Linda van den Heever, BLSA’s Species Conservation Programme Manager adds:
“Until a few decades ago, the Red-billed Oxpecker was confined to large protected areas…but is now encountered in areas of the Eastern Cape, a province where it was absent until relatively recently,” among other range increases into the North West province.
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