A picture worth a thousand words, of Acridotheres tristis tristis with Bubalus bubalis

By Antoni V Milewski and Anthony J Mills · Originally published 17 June 2026

About this edition. This is Antoni Milewski’s post, republished with his permission. Only the photographs he chose are used. Those on iNaturalist under a Creative Commons licence are shown; the rest are hosted externally and are given as links. No images have been substituted. Read the original on iNaturalist.

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These photos from northern India are remarkable for the sheer number (several hundred) of individuals of Acridotheres tristis (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/204454-Acridotheres-tristis), a starling (Sturnidae) commensal with large mammals.

Bubalus bubalis is a domestic ruminant.

Acridotheres tristis presumably accompanied the wild ancestor of Bubalus bubalis. The commensal relationship has continued with

domestication of the ruminant, and

inadvertent promotion of the bird by Homo sapiens, in other ways and on an extreme scale.

This starling utilises bovins and other large-bodied ruminants mainly as beaters of insects in the herbage.

It also gleans ticks and other ectoparasites from the bodies of large mammals. However, in the case of B. bubalis there is unlikely to be any such role. This is because the only ectoparasite common on B. bubalis tends to be a species of louse, too small for the bird to bother with.

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Can any Reader explain the extreme aggregation of A. t. tristis in these scenes?

Chatgpt

MY QUESTION

Is there any record of Acridotheres, or any other bird, gleaning lice (Haematopinus) from Bubalus? Supply full references.

ANSWER FROM CHATGPT

There are many records of birds feeding on ectoparasites of buffaloes, but I have found no published record specifically documenting an Acridotheres (myna) removing Haematopinus lice from Bubalus.

The evidence can be divided into three categories:

Oxpeckers are the only birds clearly documented taking ectoparasites from buffaloes

The classic buffalo–bird association involves the African buffalo, African buffalo, and the oxpeckers Red-billed Oxpecker and Yellow-billed Oxpecker.

Numerous studies show that oxpeckers remove ticks and other ectoparasites from large ungulates, including buffalo. However, the literature overwhelmingly discusses ticks (Ixodidae), not lice. Even where “ectoparasites” are mentioned generally, authors rarely identify lice among the prey items.

Haematopinus tuberculatus is a major parasite of water buffalo

The buffalo louse, Buffalo louse, is widely recognized as the principal louse of river buffaloes and has been reported from India, Brazil, Italy, Mexico and elsewhere. It may occur in very high numbers, especially on calves. The preferred sites are the neck, back and loins.

Because these lice spend essentially their entire life cycle clinging to the host’s hair coat, they would in principle be available to a gleaning bird. However, the veterinary literature on H. tuberculatus makes no mention of avian removal as a significant mortality factor.

Mynas do associate with buffaloes, but evidence for louse-feeding is weak

Several species of myna, especially Common myna, frequently follow livestock and perch on cattle and buffaloes. Observers have reported them taking insects flushed by the animals and occasionally picking arthropods directly from the skin.

However, in the ornithological literature these prey are generally described as ticks, flies, fly larvae, or unspecified insects. I have been unable to locate a primary source identifying Haematopinus or any other sucking louse as prey taken from buffaloes by Acridotheres.

Conclusion

At present, the answer appears to be:

No published record is known to me of Acridotheres gleaning Haematopinus lice from Bubalus.

No convincing published record of any bird specifically taking Haematopinus from buffaloes has surfaced in the accessible literature.

Birds definitely remove other ectoparasites from buffaloes—most notably ticks, especially in the case of oxpeckers—but the buffalo louse Haematopinus tuberculatus seems not to have been documented as a prey item.

This is one of those cases where absence of evidence should not be confused with evidence of absence. Given the size of H. tuberculatus (often 3–5 mm long) and the habit of mynas and oxpeckers to inspect large mammals, it would be surprising if birds never consumed them. The difficulty is that I can find no published observation demonstrating it.