Bee-eaters (Meropidae) are a family of striking, medium-sized birds found across Africa, Asia, southern Europe, and Australia. These non-passerine birds are known for their vibrant plumage, social behavior, and specialized diet centered around catching flying insects, particularly bees. With at least 27 species recognized, bee-eaters exhibit diverse feeding habits and adaptations to thrive in various environments.
General Dietary Habits
As their name suggests, bee-eaters primarily consume bees and other flying insects. These adept aerial hunters typically eat around 250 insects per day. While bees and wasps constitute a significant portion of their diet, making up approximately 70% on average, bee-eaters are not limited to these stinging insects.
Bee-eaters have been documented consuming a wide array of insects, including:
- Beetles
- Mayflies
- Stoneflies
- Cicadas
- Termites
- Crickets
- Grasshoppers
- Mantises
- True flies
- Moths
Interestingly, bee-eaters tend to avoid butterflies, finding them distasteful.
Hunting and Consumption Techniques
Bee-eaters are aerial hunters, typically perching on fences, telegraph wires, and branches, waiting to chase virtually any airborne insect. They can spot a potential meal from as far as 45 meters away. Once an insect is captured in their long, slender, black bill, the bee-eater returns to its perch to process the prey.
Read also: Identifying a True Siamese Algae Eater
A characteristic behavior of bee-eaters is how they handle stinging insects. Rather than immediately swallowing a bee or wasp, they beat it against a branch or other hard surface. This action serves to dislodge the stinger and rupture the venom sac, minimizing the risk of being stung. They also rub the insect's stinger against their perch to remove it, closing their eyes to avoid being squirted with poison from the ruptured poison sac.
Smaller prey items are typically consumed whole, while larger insects may be beaten and broken into pieces before ingestion.
Specific Species and Their Diets
While the general dietary pattern remains consistent across bee-eater species, some variations exist based on geographical location and prey availability.
European Bee-Eater (Merops apiaster)
The European Bee-eater is the most widespread species, breeding across southern Europe and Asia and wintering in Africa. Their diet consists primarily of flying insects caught in flight. Studies have identified over 300 prey taxa in their diet.
Blue-Cheeked Bee-Eater (Merops persicus)
The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, a migrant in Israel, has a diet quite identical to that of M. apiaster, focused on insects that are caught in flight.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
Little Green Bee-Eater (Merops cyanophrys)
The Little Green Bee-eater, found in desert regions, also feeds on flying insects.
Rainbow Bee-Eater (Merops ornatus)
The Rainbow Bee-eater, the only bee-eater species native to Australia, has a diet primarily of flying insects, including bees. They catch insects in their long, slender bill and fly back to their perch.
Carmine Bee-Eaters
Carmine bee-eaters also eat grasshoppers, locusts and rarely small fish. They are strongly attracted to bush fires preying upon fleeing insects. Some carmine bee-eaters exhibit a unique foraging behavior, riding on the backs of animals like ostriches, antelope, elephants, and warthogs to catch insects flushed out by the animal's movements.
White-Throated Bee-Eater (Merops albicollis)
The white-throated bee eater Merops albicollis, is thought to be the only member of Meropidae to eat vegetable matter. In the rainforests of West Africa, squirrels feed on oil-palm nuts Elaeis guineensis. The bee eaters below, catch and eat the epicarp of the fruit dropped by the squirrels.
Red-Throated Bee-Eater (Merops bullocki)
The red-throated Merops bullocki is the third aviculturally familiar bee eater species.
Read also: Walnut Keto Guide
Nutritional Needs and Captive Diets
In the wild, bee-eaters meet their nutritional requirements through a diverse range of insect prey. Studies have identified over 350 prey taxa for the Red-throated Bee-eater, 300 taxa for the European Bee-eater, and at least 260 for the White-throated Bee-eater.
However, in captivity, replicating this diverse diet can be challenging. While commercially available live foods like mealworms, waxworms, and crickets can sustain bee-eaters, they do not provide a balanced diet and can lead to malnutrition, often manifesting as vitamin A deficiency.
To address this, captive bee-eaters benefit from a supplemented diet that includes:
- An insectivore diet: This is typically made of softbill pellets ground into tiny pieces and moistened with water or fruit juice.
- Live food: Giant mealworms, waxworms, and crickets, dipped in nectar or honey solution and rolled in the insectivore diet.
- Finely chopped or mashed hard-boiled egg.
The insectivore diet will fill about half of the food dish. The remaining ingredients (livefood, egg, kibble, Nebraska bird of prey meat and sliced pinkies) lay on top of this mixture and stimulate feeding by being clearly visible. The wet foods (pinkies, kibble and meat) adhere to the insectivore diet to deliver better nutrition. The insectivore diet also sticks to the insects when they are dipped in thick nectar or honey.
The insectivore diet also sticks to the insects when they are dipped in thick nectar or honey. Dipping the insects in this way guarantees good nutrition with every mouthful, since the insects alone are a wholly inadequate diet.
Acclimated and established bee-eaters are not hard to keep, and in warm climates do very well outdoors, adoring the occasional warm shower and the opportunity to sunbathe.
Threats and Conservation
While most bee-eater species are currently classified as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, some face threats such as habitat loss and persecution. For example, the Blue-moustached Bee-eater is classified as "Near Threatened" due to habitat loss from timber logging and agricultural encroachment.
In some regions, bee-eaters are also persecuted by beekeepers who perceive them as a threat to honeybee populations. In Cyprus, thousands of European Bee-eaters are shot annually.