Free Ride, Free Lunch

Need help solving this crossword? Learn more about the oxpecker as Professor Barry Mins studies kinds that may have been on the Ark.

Oxpeckers on an African buffalo.
Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

1. This bird can be found in _______ savannahs.
2. They belong to the family __________.
3. __________ eat plants.
4. These birds love to eat _____.
5. These birds are well known for riding the backs and sides of large _______.
6. Oxpeckers also drink the _____ of their hosts.
7. The birds prefer ticks but will gladly drink the blood of their host if there are not enough ticks to go around. This is called conditional _________.
8. Oxpeckers will build nests in tree _______.
9. Female oxpeckers lay up to ____ eggs in rare cases.
10. You may have seen these birds on ________ documentaries.

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