European bee eater

Introduction: European bee-eaters (Merops apiaster) inhabit a wide range of regions, irrespective of their altitudes, although it is absent from the driest and wettest areas of the country. They are a highly gregarious species with flocks numbering between 20 and 100. Roosting takes place in similar numbers in leafed trees of around 7/8m high.

Distribution: Widespread in Namibia less for the Namib Desert. Particularly common in the north-central regions of the country such as Etosha National Park, Epupa Falls and from Windhoek eastwards through Gobabis into Botswana.

Diet: European bee-eaters hunt prey in flight such as bees and wasps, flying ants and termites, flies, dragonflies, beetles, grasshoppers and locusts.

Description: Apiaster is Latin for bee-eater. A year-round vocalizer with a clear alarm call of dick-dick-dick-dick.

Breeding: Male and females can bond for a number of years, at time for life. They are colonial nesters with up to 30 nests active at a time, on occasions mixed with pied starlings and banded and brown-throated martins. Between 2 to 6 eggs are laid between October and January with an incubation period of around 12 days.

Size: 29cm.

Weight: 52g.