Un cas d’association à bénéfice mutuel, celui de la Pie Grièche Lanius cabanisi avec les bubalornis Bubalornis niger

A mutualistic relationship between a flock of red-billed buffalo weavers Bubalornis niger and one individual of Long-tailed Fiscal Shrike Lanius cabanisi is described. The shrike benefited from the grasshoppers and other insects flushed at ground level by the foraging buffalo weavers, and followed them. The latter, in turn, took advantage of the antipredator behaviour and alarm calls of the shrike. In two cases when a predator approached, once the buffalo weavers flew away for a time before re-associating again with the shrike, and the second time they simply « froze » temporarily when an hawk flew over them. Both species followed each other for one and a half hours, but there was no « leader » or «follower » in this polyspecific association, the two species playing both roles in turn.Brosset André. Un cas d’association à bénéfice mutuel, celui de la Pie Grièche Lanius cabanisi avec les bubalornis Bubalornis niger. In: Revue d'Écologie (La Terre et La Vie), tome 44, n°1, 1989. pp. 103-106