The Rainbow Bee-eater (RBBE) is the only Australian representative of the Meropsidae family. This family comprises 3 genera and 31 species which occur from Southern Europe, Africa through Asia to Papua New Guinea and Australia.
The name is derived from the ancient Greek, Merops which means bee-eater and the Latin, ornatus meaning ornate. A very fitting description!
The species can be found almost anywhere in Australia and in most vegetation types including disturbed habitats, although it prefers to always be near water. They are less common in central Australia and are absent from Tasmania. They can be found year-round in South East Queensland.
The ICUN classifies the species as least concern.
Both sexes are alike but can be distinguished by the males having longer streamers (20-60 mm) compared with 10-20mm for the females. (Fig 1) Juveniles appear similar to adults but duller in colour and lack the central streamers and black throat of adults.
The diet consists almost entirely of European honey bees (Apis mellifera), up to 94%, but they consume most flying insects. Some insects can be taken from leaves and branches. Tadpoles and small fish have also been recorded being consumed, taken from still water. Small insects and other foods are consumed whole. Larger prey is bashed against a branch to soften. A unique behaviour with caught honey bees is “bee rubbing”, where the bee is bashed then the sting is removed by rubbing the bee’s abdomen along a branch, prior to consuming.
RBBEs are known as “sit and wait” predators and can often be seen sitting on an exposed branch only to swiftly and gracefully dart into the air to catch an insect then glide gracefully back to their vantage point.
In the 1930’s they were declared a noxious pest in Queensland with a bounty placed on their head because of the perceived risk to the honey industry!
RBBEs have a characteristic call often described as ‘Drrrrp Drrrp” and, as most readers will know, they are often heard before they are seen.
They are migratory, with southern birds migrating North from Southern Australia for the Austral Winter. Northern birds can migrate to Indonesia through the Northern Territory and also Cape York.
Breeding generally occurs from November to February. RBBEs nest on the ground, in sandy banks, flat ground and often along road culverts. They excavate a long tunnel averaging 900 mm long with a nesting chamber at the end. This is generally unlined, with 2-8 eggs (Ave 4-5) being laid on the bare earth of the chamber. Incubation is 25 days, fledging occurs after ~28 days.
Nest predation has been observed from foxes and wild dogs which can dig up the chamber. A nest that I had been observing was likely predated by a cat.
References:
- E-bird data.
- Fulton, G.R. and Rose, A.B. Australian Field Ornithology. Food Remains in the Nests of Rainbow Bee-eaters Merops ornatus in Old Growth Woodlands of South Western Australia. pp 37-43
- HANZAB Vol 4 Parrots to Dollarbird
- Jobling, James A. (2010). “Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird-names“
- Nielson, L. “Rainbow Bee-eaters (Merops ornatus) taking fish”. The Sunbird 43(2) pp 65-66
