Honeyguide

The Indicatoridae were noted for their barbet-like structure and brood-parasitic behavior and morphologically considered unique among the non-passerines in having nine primaries.{{cite book |author=Austin, Oliver Luther |title=Birds of the world : a survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families |publisher=Hamlyn |year=1962 |page=186}} The phylogenetic relationship between the honeyguides and the eight other families that make up the order Piciformes is shown in the cladogram below.{{Cite journal | last1=Kuhl | first1=H. | last2=Frankl-Vilches | first2=C. | last3=Bakker | first3=A. | last4=Mayr | first4=G. | last5=Nikolaus | first5=G. | last6=Boerno | first6=S.T. | last7=Klages | first7=S. | last8=Timmermann | first8=B. | last9=Gahr | first9=M. | date=2021 | title=An unbiased molecular approach using 3′-UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life | journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution | volume=38 | issue=1 | pages=108-127 | doi=10.1093/molbev/msaa191 | doi-access=free | hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-B72A-C | hdl-access=free }}{{ cite journal | last1=Stiller | first1=J. | display-authors=etal | year=2024 | title=Complexity of avian evolution revealed by family-level genomes | journal=Nature | volume=629 | issue= | pages=851-860 | doi=10.1038/s41586-024-07323-1 | doi-access=free | pmc=11111414 }} The number of species in each family is taken from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=December 2023 | title=IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=17 June 2024 }}

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|label1=Piciformes

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|1=Galbulidae – jacamars (18 species)

|2=Bucconidae – puffbirds (38 species)

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|1=Indicatoridae – honeyguides (16 species)

|2=Picidae – woodpeckers (240 species)

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|1=Megalaimidae – Asian barbets (35 species)

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|1=Lybiidae – African barbets (42 species)

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|1=Capitonidae – New World barbets (15 species)

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|1=Semnornithidae – toucan barbets (2 species)

|2=Ramphastidae – toucans (43 species)

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File:Wahlberg's Honeyguide (Prodotiscus regulus) - Juvenile fed by host parent Rock-loving Cisticola.jpg juvenile fed by host parent, a rock-loving cisticola]]

Most honeyguides are dull-colored, though some have bright yellow coloring in the plumage. All have light outer tail feathers, which are white in all the African species. The smallest species by body mass appears to be the green-backed honeyguide, at an average of {{convert|10.2|g|oz|abbr=on}}, and by length appears to be the Cassin's honeyguide, at an average of {{convert|10|cm|in|abbr=on}}, while the largest species by weight is the lyre-tailed honeyguide, at {{convert|54.2|g|oz|abbr=on}}, and by length, is the greater honeyguide, at {{convert|19.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}.Short, L.L. and J. F. M. Horne (2020). Greater Honeyguide (Indicator indicator), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.Short, L.L., J. F. M. Horne, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Cassin's Honeyguide (Prodotiscus insignis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA.{{cite book |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |edition=2nd |editor-first=John B. Jr. |editor-last=Dunning |publisher=CRC Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4200-6444-5}}

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 waxworms which are the larvae of the waxmoth Galleria mellonella, on 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: guiding humans to bee colonies. Once the hive is open and the honey is taken, the bird feeds on larvae and wax. This behavior has been studied in the greater honeyguide; some authorities (following Friedmann, 1955) state that it also occurs in the scaly-throated honeyguide, while others disagree. Wild honeyguides understand various types of human calls that attract them to engage in the foraging mutualism.{{cite journal |first1=Claire N. |last1=Spottiswoode |author1-link= Claire Spottiswoode |first2=Keith S. |last2=Begg |first3=Colleen M. |last3=Begg |title=Reciprocal signaling in honeyguide-human mutualism |journal=Science |date=July 22, 2016 |doi=10.1126/science.aaf4885 |volume=353 |issue=6297 |pages=387–389 |pmid=27463674|bibcode=2016Sci...353..387S |s2cid=206648494 |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/256963 }} In northern Tanzania, honeyguides partner with Hadza hunter-gatherers, and the bird assistance has been shown to increase honey-hunters' rates of finding bee colonies by 560%, and led men to significantly higher yielding nests than those found without honeyguides.{{Cite journal|last1=Wood|first1=Brian M.|last2=Pontzer|first2=Herman|last3=Raichlen|first3=David A.|last4=Marlowe|first4=Frank W.|date=2014-11-01|title=Mutualism and manipulation in Hadza–honeyguide interactions|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513814000877|journal=Evolution and Human Behavior|language=en|volume=35|issue=6|pages=540–546|doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.07.007|issn=1090-5138|url-access=subscription}} Contrary to most depictions of the human-honeyguide relationship, the Hadza did not actively repay honeyguides, but instead, hid, buried, and burned honeycomb, with the intent of keeping the bird hungry and thus more likely to guide again. Some experts believe that honeyguide co-evolution with humans goes back to the stone-tool making human ancestor Homo erectus, about 1.9{{nbsp}}million years ago.{{cite book |last1=Wrangham |first1=Richard |title=Honey and fire in human evolution |date=2011 |publisher=Oxbow Books |pages=149–167}} Despite some assumptions, no evidence indicates that honeyguides guide the honey badger; though videos about this exist, there have been accusations that they were staged.{{cite journal|last=Dean|first=W. R. J.|author2=Siegfried, W. Roy |author3=MacDonald, I. A. W. |title=The Fallacy, Fact, and Fate of Guiding Behavior in the Greater Honeyguide|journal=Conservation Biology|date=1 March 1990|volume=4|issue=1|pages=99–101|doi=10.1111/j.1523-1739.1990.tb00272.x|bibcode=1990ConBi...4...99D }}{{cite web |last=Yong |first=Ed |date=September 19, 2011 |title=Lies, damned lies, and honey badgers |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/lies-damned-lies-and-honey-badgers |access-date=July 8, 2024 |publisher=Kalmbach}}

Sometimes, honeyguides lead humans to animals that are not bees, such as snakes. The reason for this behavior is not clear.{{Cite journal |last=Lloyd-Jones |first=David J. |last2=Muamedi |first2=Musaji |last3=Spottiswoode |first3=Claire N. |date=2025 |title=To Bees or Not to Bees: Greater Honeyguides Sometimes Guide Humans to Animals Other Than Bees, but Likely Not as Punishment |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.71136 |journal=Ecology and Evolution |language=en |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=e71136 |doi=10.1002/ece3.71136 |issn=2045-7758 |pmc=12037988 |pmid=40303557}}

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.

The breeding behavior of eight species in Indicator and Prodotiscus is known. They are all brood parasites that lay one egg in a nest of another species, laying eggs in series of about five during a period of 5–7 days. Most favor hole-nesting species, often the related barbets and woodpeckers, but Prodotiscus parasitizes cup-nesters such as white-eyes and warblers. Honeyguide nestlings have been known to physically eject their hosts' chicks from the nests and they have needle-sharp hooks on their beaks with which they puncture the hosts' eggs or kill the nestlings.{{cite book |editor-last=Forshaw |editor-first=Joseph |last=Short |first=Lester L. |year=1991 |title=Encyclopaedia of Animals: Birds |publisher=Merehurst Press |location=London |page=155 |isbn=978-1-85391-186-6}}

African honeyguide birds are known to lay their eggs in underground nests of other bee-eating bird species. The honeyguide chicks kill the hatchlings of the host using their needle-sharp beaks just after hatching, much as cuckoo hatchlings do. The honeyguide mother ensures her chick hatches first by internally incubating the egg for an extra day before laying it, so that it has a head start in development compared to the hosts' offspring.{{cite news |last=Davies |first=Ella |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14802180 |title=Underground chick-killers filmed |publisher=BBC Nature |date=7 September 2011 }}

• List of honeyguides

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | author = Friedmann, Herbert | title = The Honeyguides | publisher = U.S. National Museum (Bulletin 208) | year = 1955 | hdl = 10088/10101 }}
• {{cite book | author = Short, Lester, and Jennifer Horne | title = Toucans, Barbets and Honeyguides | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2002 | isbn = 978-0-19-854666-5}}

• {{YouTube|JTXKeBx0I_8|Lesser Honeyguide (Indicator minor)}}
• [https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/humans-and-birds-cooperate-to-share-beehive-bounty/ Human and Birds Cooperate to Share Beehive Bounty] on Scientific American

{{Piciformes}}

{{Brood parasite}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q214137}}

Category:Brood parasites

Category:Honeyguides

Category:Symbiosis