# European Bee-eater

*Merops apiaster*

To avoid being stung, the bee-eater repeatedly hits the insect against a hard surface to discharge the venom and remove the stinger.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Coraciiformes › Meropidae › Merops
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** increasing
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Open country, riverbanks with sandy cliffs, pastures, and shrublands.
- **Diet:** Flying insects, specifically bees, wasps, hornets, and dragonflies.
- **Range:** Southern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa (wintering)
- **Size:** 27-29 cm in length; wingspan of 44-49 cm.
- **Lifespan:** 5-6 years
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Pesticide use reducing prey availability, habitat loss, and human disturbance of nesting banks.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless to humans. These birds are shy; maintain a distance of at least 20 meters to avoid disturbing their flight patterns or nesting burrows. They do not pose a physical threat to people.

## About

The European bee-eater ( Merops apiaster ) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. The genus name Merops is Ancient Greek for "bee-eater", and apiaster is Latin, also meaning "bee-eater", from apis , "bee". It breeds in southern Europe and in parts of north Africa and western Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa. This species occurs as a spring overshoot north of its range, with occasional breeding in northwest Europe.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/abc8eaf9-a281-45c6-bd17-93058307ae50
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/2191
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merops apiaster
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/203794391/medium.jpg (Sem Khatov, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.