Indicator indicator, or as we civilians call him....the Greater honey guide, is a bird "we" have known for millenia. That is a royal "we" obviously but our species has come to us him and visa versa. A symbiotic relationship! In Africa this family of birds will lead men to bee-hives literally bush by bush and wait while he raids the hive. Nothing is free of course and so the story goes..you have to leave him his share of the spoils or else next time he will lead you into a lion or cobra!
I had my first encounter like this the other day when I was running. I was doing just a 7 km run the other afternoon when, over a David Grey track playing in my ears, I heard an alarm call from what I took to be a squirrel. I kept running with just a quick glance in that direction and saw nothing.
I ran to my halfway point, turned around and headed back.
As I reached the same spot where I had heard the call, I heard it again but this time coming from the other side of the road. I couldn't imagine that a squirrel would have crossed the road so I looked up into the tree and saw the Greater honey guide. It dawned on me that he was calling me. With a loud chirping that sounds a little like a box of matches being shaken from side to side he now flew high above me and into a tree ahead. I kept up my pace up and as I passed his tree he flew out again and landed in the next one ahead. This continued for about a kilometre and a half before he thought better than to lead a man dressed only in little black running shorts and clearly not after honey!
On this continent, as the birthplace of mankind, I love to explore the idea of these ancient relationships. Man and Lion have known each other since "day one"and this relationship between man and bird is equally intriguing albeit a little less conflicting.
follow this link to hear a greater honey guide calling: http://www.xeno-canto.org/77495
Brent
I had my first encounter like this the other day when I was running. I was doing just a 7 km run the other afternoon when, over a David Grey track playing in my ears, I heard an alarm call from what I took to be a squirrel. I kept running with just a quick glance in that direction and saw nothing.
I ran to my halfway point, turned around and headed back.
As I reached the same spot where I had heard the call, I heard it again but this time coming from the other side of the road. I couldn't imagine that a squirrel would have crossed the road so I looked up into the tree and saw the Greater honey guide. It dawned on me that he was calling me. With a loud chirping that sounds a little like a box of matches being shaken from side to side he now flew high above me and into a tree ahead. I kept up my pace up and as I passed his tree he flew out again and landed in the next one ahead. This continued for about a kilometre and a half before he thought better than to lead a man dressed only in little black running shorts and clearly not after honey!
On this continent, as the birthplace of mankind, I love to explore the idea of these ancient relationships. Man and Lion have known each other since "day one"and this relationship between man and bird is equally intriguing albeit a little less conflicting.
follow this link to hear a greater honey guide calling: http://www.xeno-canto.org/77495
Brent
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