Lesser Honeyguide

This is a Lesser Honeyguide, Indicator minor, chowing down on some honeycomb!  This was actually drawn from personal observation: there was a huge bees' nest in a tree in my garden; at some point the bees for some reason abandoned it.  It wasn't in a cavity, it was simply hanging from the bottom of a branch.  The honeyguide had been around, and when the bees abandoned the nest it went in to have itself a feast!  Honeyguides are interesting for several reasons.  They're the only family of birds that is 100% nest-parasitic - all of them lay their eggs in the nests of other birds.  The Lesser Honeyguide chooses barbets most of the time. (Barbets, woodpeckers and honeyguides are all fairly closely related.)  Next, honeyguides are the only birds able to digest bee's wax!  So it eats not just the honey and the bee grubs, but the honeycomb itself!  Honeyguides have also been said to lead humans to bees' nests; the humans then give the honeyguides a reward of some honeycomb.  This practice is dying out in Africa because most people now get honey, sugar and syrup from stores.  This is a pencil drawing tweaked and coloured with Photoshop.