in addition to being a predator of insects and a mutualist with its follower species, the greater honeyguide is a brood parasite. it lays white eggs in series of 3 to 7, for a total of 10 to 20 in a year. each egg is laid in a different nest of a bird of another species, including some woodpeckers, barbets, kingfishers, bee-eaters, wood hoopoes, starlings, and large swallows. it is common for the female greater honeyguide to break the host's eggs when laying her own. all the species parasitized nest in holes, covered nests, or deep cup nests. the chick has a membranous hook on the bill that it uses, while still blind and featherless, to kill the host's young outright or by repeated wounds.