Southern carmine bee-eater

Bee-eaters catch insects while they fly.

They eat bees, termites, dragonflies and locusts.

Southern carmine bee-eaters catch big insects in midair, such as locusts, cicadas, dragonflies, flying termites and bees, and carry them back to a perch. There, they rub a bee or wasp against the branch to get rid of its sting.

They are often seen following grass fires, catching the insects that fly up to escape the flames. Later, they cough up the hard insect parts as pellets.

Biodiversity Explorer says the species feeds exclusively on insects, generally larger than those taken by other bee-eaters, such as termite alates, cicadas and locusts. SANBI lists dragonflies, termites and locusts, describes prey being rubbed against a perch to kill it, which removes the stings of bees and wasps, and notes pellets of insect exoskeleton and the habit of following grass fires to catch fleeing insects; it adds that migration routes may follow locusts.

Sources differ on 'hitch-hiking' on large animals to catch flushed insects: Ryan (2009) says this is rarely seen in the southern species, while SANBI says it has been recorded, especially on kori bustards.

Carmine bee-eaters live in huge, busy groups.

Hundreds of birds fly around their sandy bank.

Southern carmine bee-eaters are very social. Their breeding colonies can have up to 1,000 pairs, all nesting in one riverbank. Before the eggs are laid, the whole colony often bursts into the air at once, chattering and wheeling around, before settling down again.

The birds also glide on breezes rising up the bank, and males chase each other in the air, sometimes grabbing each other's beaks.

Ryan (2009) describes colonies of up to 1,000 pairs, whole colonies flushing en masse before laying, chittering and wheeling before resettling, birds soaring on the updraft where a river breeze meets the bank, and frequent aerial jostling and bill-grabbing in the pre-breeding period, probably aggressive encounters between competing males. Biodiversity Explorer gives colonies of 100 to 1,000 nests.

Predators visit colonies: Ryan describes a water monitor that, despite being mobbed by the bee-eaters, inspected burrows and took chicks. SANBI notes perching side by side on plants overhanging water, and different calls for threat and courtship.

There are lots of carmine bee-eaters.

They need quiet, safe riverbanks to raise their chicks.

The southern carmine bee-eater is listed as least concern, but its numbers are thought to be falling as its habitat is destroyed.

Because so many birds nest in a few riverbanks, colonies can be harmed easily. Dams have flooded some colonies, changing water levels can wash banks away, and too many visitors or boats can disturb the birds. Birdwatchers can help by keeping their distance from nesting colonies.

BirdLife International assessed Merops nubicoides as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 12 June 2024, published 2024): an extremely large range and an unquantified population suspected to be decreasing because of ongoing habitat destruction. It is reported in one of seven trade datasets (Donald et al. 2024), and the generation length is 3.44 years.

Ryan (2009) reported that dam-building, especially on the Zambezi, flooded numerous colonies, that irregular water releases for hydroelectric power erode banks and collapse colonies, that some sites were deserted after the birds were taken for food, that one colony in Zimbabwe was deserted after adults there were ringed in three successive seasons, and that uncontrolled tourism can cause problems through direct disturbance and through bank erosion from boat waves. SANBI notes that some beekeepers see the birds as a threat to their bees.