Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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.
White-fronted bee-eaters nest in colonies averaging 200 individuals, digging, roosting, and nesting holes in cliffs or banks of earth. A population of bee-eaters may range across many square kilometres of savannah, but will come to the same colony to roost, socialize, and to breed. White-fronted bee-eaters have one of the most complex family ...
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 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 ]
The eggs are kept in the unlined egg chamber during incubation. [ 3 ] Although several species of Meropidae are known for cooperative breeding , the blue-breasted bee-eater is a solitary monogamous breeder. [ 9 ]
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.
ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / are a group of usually colourful birds including the kingfishers, the bee-eaters, the rollers, the motmots, and the todies. They generally have syndactyly, with three forward-pointing toes (and toes 3 & 4 fused at their base), though in many kingfishers one of these is missing.