The southern carmine bee-eater (''Merops nubicoides'') (formerly carmine bee-eater) occurs across sub-equatorial Africa.

Description

This species, like other bee-eaters, is richly coloured and is predominantly

carmine Carmine ()also called cochineal (when it is extracted from the cochineal insect), cochineal extract, crimson lake, or carmine lake is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium complex derived from carminic acid. Specific code n ...

in colouration, but the crown and undertail are blue.

Range and movements

The Southern carmine bee-eater occurs from

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

and Namibia to Gabon, the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. The bee-eater is a migratory species, spending the breeding season, between August and November, in Zimbabwe and Zambia, before moving as south as South Africa for the summer months, and then migrating to Equatorial Africa from March to August.

Diet and foraging

Their diet is made up primarily of

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

s and other flying insects, and their major hunting strategy involves hawking flying insects from perch. Perches may include branches of vegetation or even the backs of large animals, such as the kori bustard. They are attracted to wildfires because of the flushed insects, and are often seen circling high in the air. They circle larger animals and even cars to catch the insects that are trying to escape.

Habitat and breeding

Its usual habitat included low-altitude river valleys and floodplains, preferring vertical banks suitable for tunneling when breeding, but readily digging vertical burrows in the level surface of small salt islands. This is a highly sociable species, gathering in large flocks, in or out of breeding season. They roost communally in trees or reedbeds, and disperse widely during the day. Nesting is at the end of a 1 to 2 meter long burrow in an earthen bank, where they lay from 2 to 5 eggs.

Gallery

Southern carmine bee-eater, Merops nubicoides, Chobe National Park, Botswana (31649416003).jpg, Kori Bustard (Ardeotis kori) and Southern Carmine Bee-eater (Merops nubicoides) (6021439753).jpg, Southern Carmine Bee-eater (Merops nubicoides) hunting over Southern Ground Hornbills (Bucorvus leadbeateri) (17354924075).jpg, Southern carmine bee-eater, Merops nubicoides, Savuti marsh, Chobe National Park, Botswana (32462175975).jpg, Southern carmine bee-eater, Merops nubicoides, Savuti marsh, Chobe National Park, Botswana (32462176535).jpg, Southern carmine bee-eater, Merops nubicoides, Savuti marsh, Chobe National Park, Botswana (31650329123).jpg,

References

*Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa - 6th edition (John Voelcker Fund, 1993)

External links

*(Southern) Carmine Bee-eater
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q973061

southern carmine bee-eater The southern carmine bee-eater (''Merops nubicoides'') (formerly carmine bee-eater) occurs across sub-equatorial Africa. Description This species, like other bee-eaters, is richly coloured and is predominantly carmine in colouration, but the c ...

Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa