- Merops nubicoides
Identification
24–27 cm (9½-10½ in); tail streamers another 12 cm)
- Carmine underparts and back
- Blue crown, rump and undertail coverts
- Black line through the eye
Distribution
Male
Photo © by marko.marais
Kalizo lodge, Caprivi strip on the Zambesi river, Namibia, September 2014
Photo © by marko.marais
Kalizo lodge, Caprivi strip on the Zambesi river, Namibia, September 2014
Central and southern Africa: North-eastern South Africa, northern and eastern Botswana and north-eastern Namibia, north to Gabon, eastern Zaire and Kenya.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Open woodland, savanna, low-altitude river valleys and floodplains, arid Acacia shrublands.
Behaviour
Breeding
The nest is at the end of a 1-2m long burrow in an earthen bank, and 2-5 eggs are laid.
Diet
The diet includes bees and other flying insects, also locusts and grasshoppers. Unlike Northern Carmine Bee-eater they are inclined to make use of ground-dwelling birds to flush insects.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved April 2017)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Southern Carmine Bee-eater. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 9 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Southern_Carmine_Bee-eater
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
