The brightly colored bee-eaters belong to the family Meropidae, a group of highly specialized, migratory birds found across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. These birds are exclusively aerial insectivores, capturing their entire diet of flying insects directly from the air. Their slender bodies, long, down-curved bills, and pointed wings allow for the acrobatic flight necessary to pursue prey mid-air. This unique hunting style sets the stage for a fascinating look into their feeding habits and survival strategies.
Primary Diet: Stinging Insects
The reason for the bee-eater’s name is immediately apparent from its preferred food source, which consists predominantly of stinging insects from the order Hymenoptera, including bees, wasps, and hornets. These venomous creatures often constitute the largest portion of the bird’s diet, sometimes accounting for 70% of their total prey consumption. The proportion of Hymenoptera can range widely, depending on the specific location and time of year.
Honeybees are particularly significant prey, frequently making up a substantial percentage of the Hymenoptera consumed. The birds also regularly target social wasps and solitary bees, exploiting local populations wherever they are most abundant. This reliance on stinging insects reflects the high nutritional value these prey items provide. While bee-eaters consume hundreds of insects daily, their impact on commercial bee colonies is generally considered minimal. A significant concern for beekeepers is the predation on queen bees during their mating flights, which can affect the overall colony strength.
Secondary Prey and Opportunistic Feeding
While their primary focus is on stinging insects, bee-eaters also exhibit opportunistic feeding behavior, consuming a wide variety of non-stinging prey to supplement their diet. This secondary prey becomes important when Hymenoptera populations are scarce due to weather conditions or local availability. Their diet includes insects from numerous other orders, highlighting flexibility in their foraging.
Non-stinging prey items include large, winged insects such as Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), which are often caught during sustained aerial pursuits. They also consume various Diptera (true flies), Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), and Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets). Some species, like the White-throated Bee-eater, have been observed taking ground prey, such as tenebrionid beetles and small lizards.
Specialized Foraging and Sting Removal Techniques
Bee-eaters utilize two main methods to capture their flying meals: aerial hawking and perch hunting. Aerial hawking involves catching prey while in continuous flight, often seen in larger species. The more common technique is perch hunting, where the bird watches from an elevated vantage point, such as a branch or wire, and then sallies out in a quick, acrobatic flight to snatch the insect mid-air before returning to its perch. The birds possess exceptional vision, enabling them to spot an insect from as far as 60 meters away.
Sting Removal Process
The most remarkable adaptation is their specialized technique for safely consuming stinging insects. Once a bee or wasp is caught, the bee-eater immediately carries it back to the perch for processing. The bird kills the insect by repeatedly beating it against the hard surface of the perch.
Following the initial beating, the bird performs the de-stinging maneuver by rubbing the insect’s abdomen vigorously against the perch. This rubbing action serves two purposes: it applies pressure to the insect’s body to discharge the venom sac and it physically removes the stinger. This precise, multi-step process ensures that the bird can ingest the dangerous prey without suffering the effects of the venom. This behavior allows the bee-eater to exploit a high-protein food source that most other birds cannot safely access.