Southern Carmine Bee-eater

[botspur]

The Southern Carmine Bee-eater (Merops nubicoides) is a stunning coloured bird with some unique behaviour. Being insectivorous it uses many methods to hunt its prey. I have observed it perched on low branches or shrubs at the feet of elephants when they uproot grasses the Bee-eater swoops in for food, also been observed perched on the back of Buffalo whilst hawking insects. In Savute when driving through the grasslands the Bee-eater will follow the car to snatch any insect disturbed by the vehicle. Once in Savute my wife snapped the below picture with the Bee-eater perched on the back of a Kori Bustard (Ardeotis kori) as it walked through the grass. Several times the Bee-eater flew off to catch an insect flushed by the walking Bustard before returning to its unusual perch.

[jeeperman]

Nice captures Clive. The first one could do with a little more head room above and infront of him. Although I see that his tail is so long, he would have to be quite small within the image. Quite pretty these birds are.

What is the large bird in the second image? He has a somewhat prehistoric look to him.

Wow I must have been tired not seeing the answer to my question before I asked.

[jprzybyla]

Beautiful images and informative write up of the habits of the bird. Such a colorful bird, thanks for sharing Clive.

[Raggi]

Such a nice colorful bird..love the images. Myself Raggi from India. I'm a learner. I also like to take pictures of birds.

[WJT]

Nice colours and great description thanks Clive. There are many bird lovers on this site and I for one get a lot from the text. Our Bee-eater in the NT of Aus has a lot different habits (I think), but now that I have heard this I will be looking with keen eyes to see if they are riding on the back of our Cori Bastards or Water Buffalo and following my 4WDrive. Thanks for the pictures and insight. P.S. Paul, they have two tails, one longer than the other, a very unique bird.

[FrankMi]

Very interesting image made even more fascinating by the background information. Thanks for sharing both the pictures and the background!

Thanks for helping to make CiC such a marvelous place to learn about the world around us!

[Bobobird]

Wow, I was amazed when seeing #1 and then #2 popped up. Made my day, great shots. Thanks.

[botspur]

Hi All, many thanks for the feedback and time taken to comment and look at the images.