European Bee-eater Merops apiaster Scientific name definitions

The European Bee-eater is the most widespread bee-eater (Meropidae) species, with a breeding distribution that extends from Portugal in the west, east as far as Mongolia and western China, and from Denmark in the north to North Africa in the south, as well as a disjunct population in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. It spends the winter predominantly in central, western, and southern Africa, with some also occurring in southern India and Sri Lanka, with widely scattered migratory pathways that connect breeding and wintering areas. The large breeding range, together with its dispersed migratory tracks, means that this species is present over large areas of Europe, Asia, and Africa during at least some portion of the year, and in the Palearctic, it is only missing from eastern Asia and far northern regions.

As with all Meropidae, the European Bee-eater is also characterized by its colorful plumage, which has given the species the name "Golden Bee-eater" in some parts of its range.

The species lives socially year-round in remarkably stable groups and requires specific ecological conditions. It is an obligate insectivore, specializing in flying insects as food for itself and its offspring, which it usually catches in rapid-flight hunts. For its self-dug breeding burrows, it needs steep walls with a consistency that is, on the one hand, solid enough that the burrows exist at least for one breeding season, but are nevertheless soft enough to still workable for the birds.

Despite all of its specializations to specific ecological conditions, it also has the plasticity to adapt to changing environmental conditions. It is opportunistic in its choice of food and breeding sites, and can take advantage of attractive local conditions, even if these do not correspond to the stereotypical profile of the species' ecological niche.

The usual social life in groups, high breeding site philopatry, high reproduction rate, breeding support by helpers, the close family coherence, and a certain ecological plasticity allows the species to colonize new habitats quickly. These behaviors are thought to be an adaptation to its primary breeding habitat along naturally meandering river landscapes, where breeding walls from previous years can be destroyed by flood events in spring. Only the ability to adapt quickly to changing local conditions makes it possible for the species to exist in such volatile breeding habitats. In addition, this way of life has also made it possible to benefit from changing climatic conditions and to expand its breeding range rapidly far northwards parallel to the warming summers. Thus, the European Bee-eater is considered a profiteer of climate-change, where it has, within a few decades, successfully colonized new breeding areas at every edge of its northern distribution.