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Identification - Small to medium-sized birds with brilliantly colored plumage and a black stripe through the eye. Long, slender, slightly down-curved, pointed bills. Long, sharply pointed wings. In some species the tail feathers are noticeably elongated. Sexes similar. Immatures are duller versions of adults but without elongated tail feathers. Other Bee Eater Topics: Behavior | Food | Habitat | Nest | Voice Other Animals |
Many species are gregarious. The little bee-eater is usually solitary or in pairs during the daytime, though a number of individuals may roost together on a branch during the night. The Eurasian bee-eater is a non-breeding Palaearctic winter visitor to East Africa. Some of the other species are non-breeding intra-African migrants, while the others are residents that breed here. Bee-eaters fly in a graceful, swallow-like manner, exhibiting tremendous acceleration to capture insects on the wing. They repeatedly return to perch on a branch or wire where they stun their prey with a series of rapid blows before swallowing it. Most species breed and roost colonially.
Insects; particularly bees, wasps, and hornets; also butterflies, dragonflies and winged termites (alates).
Woodlands, riverine thickets, thorn bush and savanna.
A burrow excavated in the ground or in banks, terminating in an unlined nest chamber.
Certain species are quite vocal; liquid trills and short, sharp, chirrup-like notes, "kroop" or "kwip", repeated.