BEE-EATERS are among the most colourful of the medium-sized insect-eating birds. Sixteen of the 28 species are found in Africa; the distribution of the others includes Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Indonesia. The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) found in both Europe Asia and Africa, bred in the UK in 2022, as it has done several times previously. “Rainbowbird”, the name for the Australian species, would be an accurate name for the family.
Species vary in size from the blue-bearded bee-eater () at 31-35 cm to the smallest and highly widespread little bee-eater () at 16-17cm. All species have sharp tweezer-shaped beaks, which are snapped as they catch flying insects in mid-air. Apart from two species, all have the characteristic eye mask. Most are predominantly green with additional blue, red,) has highly elongated outer tail feathers. Bee-eaters show little sexual dimorphism, apart from the female’s wings and streamers being shorter. In the European bee-eater the male is greener than the female when breeding.
