Door knockers knock on a door. A woodpecker pecks on wood. An oxpecker (you guessed it) knocks on oxen. They don’t actually knock on an ox, they hitch a ride, hopping all over the ox (and other large mammals in southwestern Africa) grabbing ticks and insects. It is not uncommon to see oxen with oxpeckers crawling all over them.
Their preferred food in reality is ox blood. They eat the insects they find on the ox but are really going after the ticks that have just gorged on blood from the ox.
Oxpeckers are also known for pecking on open wounds of mammals to get their blood directly. In effect they use oxen and other large mammals as walking bird feeders
birdsoup 
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