Little Bee-eater

The little bee-eater - also known as the little merops

The head has a greenish color, which sometimes transitions into a bronze hue. A black band runs through the eyes. The eyes are particularly striking. The pupil is black, but the iris is red. The nape is gold-green, while the chin and throat appear in a yellowish green. Between the throat and chest there is another black band, which turns rust-brown towards the chest. The wings are green and brown. The upper side is brown and the underside is yellowish-green to orange, as are the outer flight feathers. The underside of the tail is gray and shiny, while the outer tail feathers are orange. Otherwise, the tail is rather light green. The tail tip is slightly forked. The long beak is black and curved downwards.

Males and females look similar, except that the female's throat is duller and the black band between the throat and chest appears narrower. Young little bee-eaters usually have duller colors. For breeding, holes are built. The breeding season lasts 18 to 22 days, with males and females taking turns, but the main burden lies with the female. After about 22 to 31 days, the young leave the breeding hole. After that, they are still fed by their parents for some time.

Diet

The little bee-eater is also an extremely sociable bird. At night they sleep together in large trees and during the day they like to sit on wires. They usually live in flocks and typically live for five to ten years. It lives in subtropical and tropical lowland forests, dry savannas, subtropical and tropical shrublands with dry forests, subtropical and tropical humid mountainous regions and in wetlands throughout almost all of Africa. It mainly feeds on insects such as bees, wasps, bumblebees and termites. For example, with wasps and bees, the captured animal is pressed against a hard object with the beak so that the venom is squeezed out. Only then are the insects eaten. The little bee-eater can distinguish between insects that are not poisonous and will eat them without prior treatment.

Habitat

The bird is listed as a species of least concern in the birds list. Its habitat extends over about 20,000 square kilometers. In most parts of this habitat, it is found in larger numbers. There are only a few regions where not many of them occur.