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Bee-eater nests may be raided by rats and snakes, [38] and the adults are hunted by birds of prey such as the Levant sparrowhawk. [39] The little bee-eater and red-throated bee-eaters are hosts of the greater honeyguide and the lesser honeyguide, both brood parasites. The young honeyguides kill the bee-eater's chicks and destroy any eggs.
The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. It breeds in southern and central Europe , northern and southern Africa, and western Asia. Except for the resident southern African population, the species is strongly migratory , wintering in tropical Africa. [ 1 ]
Rainbow bee-eaters have also been known to share their nest tunnels with other bee-eaters and sometimes even other species of birds. The female lays between 3 and 7 rounded, translucent white eggs, measuring 24 by 18 mm (0.94 by 0.71 in), which are incubated for about 21 to 24 days until hatching. [ 7 ]
Honeyguide nestlings have been known to physically eject their hosts' chicks from the nests and they have needle-sharp hooks on their beaks with which they puncture the hosts' eggs or kill the nestlings. [14] African honeyguide birds are known to lay their eggs in underground nests of other bee-eating bird species.
The eggs, which are white, hatch after 17–20 days, and the young remain in the nest for approximately another 30 days. [4] [12] Egg laying is staggered at one-day intervals so that if food is short only the older larger nestlings get fed. The chicks are naked, blind and helpless when they hatch.
Before eating their meal, a bee-eater removes the stinger by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface. Unlike most bee-eaters, these are solitary nesters, making a tunnel in sandy banks, or sometimes in the entrance to an Aardvark den. They lay 4 to 6 spherical white eggs. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs.
A local gardener captured the female, keeping her in a greenhouse, and she died two days later, after laying a single egg. In 1955, three pairs of bee-eaters nested in Streat Sand Quarry near Plumpton, East Sussex. The birds were first found on 12 June, although the birds' presence only became widely known at the start of August.
The tail is blackish with an orange base and white tip when seen from the front, while from the back it is mainly green, with black edges visible when it is flared. This bird can be distinguished from the somewhat similar little bee-eater by their larger size, darker colouring, white cheek patches, and the upland habitat where they are found. [3]