Southern carmine bee-eaters (Merops rubicoides) are beautiful birds, and the soundscape of their nesting colonies is a fascinating cacophony of chirps. As a highly sociable species, hundreds and even thousands of individuals dig burrows in a dry riverbank where they spend several months before they migrate again.

These bee-eaters are intra-African migratory birds, spending the breeding season between August and November in Zimbabwe and Zambia, before moving as far south as South Africa for the summer months, and then migrating to Equatorial Africa from March to August. They are one of Africa's amazing spectacles, with lots of people celebrating the moment they show up every year.

As the name implies, their diet consists of bees and wasps, but they also eat grasshoppers, cicadas, butterflies and other insects. They catch their prey by hawking - launching from a perch to catch an insect and then returning to eat it. They're also attracted to wildfires where they prey on the disturbed insects.

Recorded with Zoom F3 and DPA 6060 in South Luangwa NP, Zambia. I set up a drop rig close to their nesting colony without disturbing them, and left it there for a couple of days. Enjoying the videos I upload on here? Feel free to support me by:
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