Order – Piciformes contains largely arboreal, insectivorous bird species. Almost all species in the order Piciformes are zygodactyl. 2 toes point forward, 2 toes backwards. This seems to be ideal for an arboreal lifestyle.

Suborder – Picoidea, Infraorder – Picides – contains Honeyguides, Honeybirds and Woodpeckers

Family – Indicatoridae – Honeyguides are also called Indicator Birds or Honeybirds. 

Most species are found in Africa, 2 in India. The colour is mostly dull green. The white tail markings and the shape of the mostly stubby beak help in identifying the species.

Especially 2 species of the genus Indicator – Scaly-throated (not agreed by all researchers) and Greater Honeyguide are known to lead people to wild bee hives. This collaboration might go back to stone age. People smoke out the bees, take the honey and must give the bird the larvae and wax. They have the unique ability to digest beeswax. If humans fail to give them their share, it is believed the Honeyguides will lead them to a Black Mamba or a Lion next time.

In Northern Tanzania Honeyguides partner with Hadzabe people. They are hunter / gatherers and still live almost their original lifestyle protected by the government of Tanzania. Interested guest can visit them near Lake Eyasi.

How far there is a collaboration between Honeyguides and Honey Badgers is under discussion. For sure the birds might hear when a Honey Badger is raiding a bee hive and will see to get a bite. Honey Badgers are hard to get a sting since their skin is loose and thick.

Honeyguides (Indicator and Prodotiscus) are brood parasites and prefer hosts with nests in tree holes such as Barbets and Woodpeckers. The hedgling kicks out a young of the host or pierces eggs with a needle-sharp hook at the tip of their beaks.

Some other species prefer bee-eating hosts like Bee-eaters. These chicks also kill the host’s young with the hook at the tip of their beak. The Honeyguide mother incubates the egg a day longer internally so the young is more advanced at the time of breaking the egg than the hosts egg.

Honeyguides have characteristic calls. Birding guides and the people collaborating with them, now them well.

To give you as actual information as possible we use Avibase, the books “Birds of Africa South of the Sahara”, “Birds of East Africa”, “Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania”. Then we put the most characteristic information to the photo.

You can also follow us on Facebook “Bird photography Safaris Kenya” and see the numerous species as well as the beautiful photos from Lorenzo Barelli.

Click on the photo for larger view. The names of the photographers are on the photo and in the text. Without the generosity of several amazing bird photographers it had not been possible to create the pages with so many illustrated bird species. We are lucky we can even illustrate some of the hard to find Honeyguide species of East Africa. Those photos without name are from Elvira Wolfer.

Since some of the species here have a wide distribution range you can find many of them during most of our tours. To find a particular species with a small distribution area or a specific subspecies we will advise you on the most suitable itinerary.

There are species from West Africa but some of them can be found in Albertine Rift or South Western Uganda. Very few species are endemic, while some subspecies are endemic to East Africa. You will find this particular information below the bird photo.

Samples of birding safari tours to some of the best birding places you can find here