Copyright: GW - monacoeye • Gambia, Mar 2013 • All rights reserved

Bird name: Red Throated Bee Eater
Latin: Merops bulocki
Other: Guêpier à gorge rouge (Fr)
Family: Meropidae • Bee Eaters
Range: Sub-saharan W & C Africa, incl Gambia, etc.
Similar:

We saw dozens of Red-throated Bee-eaters in a quarry on MacCarthy island. Beautiful birds, with bright red throats, olive green back and cap, black eye stripe and ochre underside.

Below, Red-throated Bee-eater with spider, Janjanbureh, February.
More photos...

Copyright: GW - monacoeye • Gambia, Feb 2013 • All rights reserved

Bird name: Little Bee Eater
Latin: Merops pusillus
Other: Guêpier nain (Fr), Abejaruco chico (Es), Zwergspint (De)
Family: Meropidae • Bee Eaters
Range: Sub-saharan Africa, incl Gambia, Tanzania, Namibia etc
Similar:

The Little Bee-eater is found throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. I saw them fairly frequently in dry scrubland near the coast in Gambia, often in pairs or groups.

The Little Bee-Eater has a bright yellow throat, bright red iris, black eye stripe, ochre belly bordered at the neck by a black line, greenish head and back. Sometimes visible a blue supercilium (different subspecies?).

There are 24 species of Bee-eater worldwide, mostly in the genus Merops. Bee-eaters live in the Old World from Africa to Australia, with the highest number in Africa.

They almost exclusively eat insects, usually catching them on the wing, with a predilection for bees and wasps. Insects with stings are knocked against a hard surface then rubbed, with the bird’s eyes closed, to discharge the venom.

Below, Little Bee-eater in the dry season, Gambia, February.
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Copyright: FL - monacoeye • Tanzania, Jun 2012 • All rights reserved

Bird name: White Throated Bee Eater
Latin: Merops albicollis
Other: Guêpier à à gorge blanche (Fr), Schwalbenschwanzspint (De)
Family: Meropidae • Bee Eaters
Range: Breeds southern edge of Sahara Africa, winters Senegal to Uganda.
Similar:

Many thanks to Faye for sending in this photo of White-throated Bee-eater in Tanzania.More photos...

Copyright: GW - monacoeye • Gambia, Feb 2013 • All rights reserved

Bird name: Swallow Tailed Bee Eater
Latin: Merops hirundineus
Other: Guêpier à queue d'aronde (Fr), Schwalbenschwanzspint (De)
Family: Meropidae • Bee Eaters
Range: Sub-saharan Africa, incl Gambia, Ethiopia. India to Vietnam.
Similar:

The Swallow-tailed Bee-eater is often seen singly and is less common than the Little Bee-eater in the Gambia.

The Swallow-tailed Bee-eater has a yellow throat, with bright blue gorget, black eye stripe, and sometimes rufous cap. Tail is characteristically forked and blue. Juvenile less colour.More photos...

Copyright: GW - monacoeye • Gambia, Mar 2013 • All rights reserved

Bird name: Blue Cheeked Bee Eater
Latin: Merops persicus
Other: Guêpier de Perse (Fr), Abejaruco papirrojo (Es), Blauwangenspint (De)
Family: Meropidae • Bee Eaters
Range: Migrates to Sub-saharan Africa, incl Gambia. Breeds N Africa, Mideast, Turkey to India.
Similar:

A record shot of a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater at some distance at the Kartong Wetlands. There was a large group which arrived every morning at the same time. They were flying around catching insects.

Rufous throat, white supercilium.

Copyright: GW - monacoeye • Gambia, Feb 2013 • All rights reserved

Bird name: Green Bee Eater
Latin: Merops orientalis
Other: Little Green Bee-eater • Guêpier d'Orient (Fr), Abejaruco Esmeralda (Es), Smaragdspint (De)
Family: Meropidae • Bee Eaters
Range: Sub-saharan Africa, incl Gambia, Ethiopia. India to Vietnam.
Similar:

I saw a few Green Bee-Eaters once upriver in the Gambia near Janjanbureh (Georgetown) on MacCarthy Island. Small timid birds, perching close to the ground on this occasion.

The Green Bee-Eater (often called Little Green Bee-eater) adult is mostly bright green, with black eye stripe, which is bordered bright blue below, and with black throat stripe (gorget), and a long tail streamer. The juvenile may lack the streamer and the gorget.More photos...

Copyright: AS - monacoeye • Ngorongoro • Oct 2009 • All rights reserved

Bird name: European Bee Eater
Latin: Merops apiaster
Other: Guêpier d'Europe (Fr) • Gruccione (It) • Abejaruco europeo (Es)
Family: Meropidae • Bee Eaters
Range:
Similar:

Around the 8th of September each year, hundreds of European Bee-eaters fly along the mountains behind Monaco (below in “more photos”), parallel to the coast, in their annual southwestern migration, down to Spain and then on to Africa.

They seem to come through in groups of twenty to fifty birds, at roughly half-hour intervals, with a one-day peak of several hundred individuals.

These small colourful birds have a fluttering flight, which appears quite haphazard, yet they manage to progress in a generally westward direction, parallel to the coast. They can be heard approaching by their flutey, whistling song, which sounds a little like singing electrical wires, which they make as they fly.

André, has just sent in the photo (above) of a European Bee-Eater in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, in October.More photos...

095 Meropidae • Bee Eaters - IOC 2.5 - 2010

Nyctyornis amictus - Red-bearded Bee-eater - Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo
Nyctyornis athertoni - Blue-bearded Bee-eater - Widespread Asia

Meropogon forsteni - Purple-bearded Bee-eater - Sulawesi

Merops breweri - Black-headed Bee-eater - C, WC Africa
Merops muelleri - Blue-headed Bee-eater - C, W Africa
Merops gularis - Black Bee-eater - C, W Africa
Merops hirundineus - Swallow-tailed Bee-eater - Widespread Africa
Merops pusillus - Little Bee-eater - Widespread Africa
Merops variegatus - Blue-breasted Bee-eater - NE, C, WC Africa
Merops oreobates - Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater - EC Africa
Merops bulocki - Red-throated Bee-eater - EC, C, W Africa
Merops bullockoides - White-fronted Bee-eater - SC, SE Africa
Merops revoilii - Somali Bee-eater - E Africa
Merops albicollis - White-throated Bee-eater - NE, C, W Africa
Merops boehmi - Böhm's Bee-eater - SE Africa
Merops orientalis - Green Bee-eater - W Africa to Arabian Peninsula to Southeast Asia
Merops persicus - Blue-cheeked Bee-eater - SW, NW Africa
Merops superciliosus - Olive Bee-eater - Ethiopia to Namibia, Madagascar
Merops philippinus - Blue-tailed Bee-eater - Widespread Asia
Merops ornatus - Rainbow Bee-eater - Australia - Sulawesi to Solomon Islands
Merops viridis - Blue-throated Bee-eater - S China to Java & Philippines
Merops leschenaulti - Chestnut-headed Bee-eater - Widespread Asia
Merops apiaster - European Bee-eater - SW Europe, W, S Africa
Merops malimbicus - Rosy Bee-eater - WC, W Africa
Merops nubicus - Northern Carmine Bee-eater - E, C, W Africa
Merops nubicoides - Southern Carmine Bee-eater - SC, SE Africa