Northern Carmine Bee-eater
Merops nubicus
Large and gorgeous bee-eater with a mostly carmine body, and blue-green head and belly. The central tail feathers are elongated. In flight, reveals a blue-green rump, and rosy underwings with black trailing edge. Found in a variety of savanna habitats. Usually in flocks, and breeds colonially in riverbanks. Often perches on the backs of mammals and large birds, catching the insects that they disturb. The call is low-pitched and raspy, less musical than most bee-eaters. Similar to Southern Carmine Bee-eater, but there is virtually no overlap in range, and easily separated by the blue-green rather than carmine throat.
Identification
This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly colored, slender bird, predominantly carmine in color, except for a greenish blue head and throat and distinctive black mask. This species has red eyes, a black, pointed, decurved beak, and elongated central tail feathers.<p>The sexes are similar in appearance, and the juveniles can be distinguished from adults by their lack of elongated central tail feathers and the pinkish brown coloration of their mantle, chest to belly, and flanks.The call is a deep, throaty tunk in flight; a series of rik notes when perched.
Taxonomy
The northern carmine bee-eater was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other bee-eaters in the genus Merops and coined the binomial name Merops nubicus. Gmelin based his description on "Le guépier rouge à tête bleu" or "Guépier de Nubie" that had been described and illustrated in 1779 by French polymath Comte de Buffon in his multi-volume book Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. Buffon had been provided with a picture drawn by the Scottish traveller and writer James Bruce who had visited Nubia in 1770–1771. It is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The northern carmine bee-eater was formerly treated as conspecific with the southern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicoides).
- Scientific name
- Merops nubicus
- Authority
- Gmelin, JF, 1788
- Order
- Coraciiformes
- Family
- Meropidae
- Genus
- Merops
Range and habitat
It is native to Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda. It occurs as a vagrant in Burundi.<p>Sue McLaren and colleagues have suggested that the distribution of the northern carmine bee-eater is tightly linked to the presence of secondary loess deposits throughout Africa.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
They nest in large colonies in cliffs, usually near river banks, where they use their bills to dig long horizontal nesting tunnels, often eight feet or more in length. Some colonies may consist of just a few nests while others accommodate hundreds of breeding birds. The same site may be used for several years and then the colony may all move to another location. Occupied nests accumulate a black litter of insect remains and smell strongly of ammonia. Three to five eggs are laid per clutch.<p>Their diet is made up primarily of bees and other flying insects, such as flying ants, grasshoppers and locusts. The main hunting strategy of bee-eaters is to keep watch for flying insects from a perch, and then snatch them out of the air using their beaks, before returning to the perch.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Malayan Crested Fireback
Lophura rufa
Flamboyant dark pheasant of tropical lowland rainforest, typically in wetter areas. Male is glossy blue-black with a tufted crest, electric blue facial skin, blood-red back and white tail. Female is warm chocolate brown with pale-edged feathers on the underparts. Forages singly or in small groups on the forest floor. Shy but has become habituated in some places. Larger than Malayan Crestless Fireback and Salvadori’s Pheasant with blue rather than red facial skin and red rather than gray legs. Gives guttural “chuckit!” or soft ”weep” calls. Males also give a wing-whirring display.
Long-winged Antwren
Myrmotherula longipennis
Small antwren of understory and midstory of lowland rainforest. Males are dark gray with white wing bars and an extensive black throat patch; females are more geographically variable, but are generally reddish brown above and pale tan below north of the Amazon River, and grayish brown above, light buffy tan below south of the Amazon. Males similar to Ihering’s Antwren, which has a more extensive black throat patch and different voice, and Gray Antwren, which has a smaller black throat patch, or no black on throat at all. Females particularly similar to Gray Antwren south of the Amazon, but usually more evenly-colored; distinguished from female Ihering’s Antwren by lack of wing bars. One of the most common members of mixed species flocks, where can be easily detected by nasal “ee-eww” whines.
Waigeo Shrikethrush
Colluricincla affinis
A chunky bird with a notably thick pale bill. Dark brown on the upperparts and paler brown below, with some blurry breast streaking. Found in the understory and at middle levels of humid forest, including secondary forest. Rich, melodious, variable song consists of several penetrating whistles, generally in an up-and-down pattern. Calls include “chek” and “whit” notes. Somewhat similar to Rusty Pitohui, but smaller, lacking rufous underparts, with a dark rather than pale eye.
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