The Pallid Honeyguides (Indicator meliphilus) are endemic to the following African countries:
Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Description
Pallid Honeyguides have a dull plumage, with a darker back and wings and paler under parts. The tail below is white.
Diet / Feeding
Honeyguides regularly feed on wax, larvae and waxworms (caterpillars of Galleria mellonella) in bee colonies, as well as taking flying and crawling insects, including spiders. Occasionally, they also feed on fruits. They join mixed-species feeding flocks.
Breeding / Nesting
Honeyguides are brood parasites that lay one egg in the nest of another species (known as “hosts”). The average clutch consists of five eggs that are laid over the course of five to seven days.
Honeyguide nestlings may physically eject their host’s chicks from the nest; or use the hooks on their beaks to puncture the hosts’ eggs or kill the nestlings.
