page_title: Bee-eater
section_title: Predators and parasites
hierarchical_section_title: Bee-eater / Predators and parasites
caption_attribution_description: English: Green Bee-eaters Merops orientalis at Sindhrot in Vadodara District of Gujarat, India.
context_page_description: The bee-eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and twenty-seven species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers. All have long down-turned bills and medium to long wings, which may be pointed or round. Male and female plumages are usually similar.
  As their name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat flying insects, especially bees and wasps, which are caught on the wing from an open perch. The stinger is removed by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect, thereby discharging most of the venom.
  Most bee-eaters are gregarious. They form colonies, nesting in burrows tunnelled into vertical sandy banks, often at the side of a river or in flat ground. As they mostly live in colonies, large numbers of nest holes may be seen together. The eggs are white, with typically five to the clutch.
context_section_description: Bee-eater nests may be raided by rats and snakes, and the adults are hunted by birds of prey such as the Levant sparrowhawk. The little bee-eater and red-throated bee-eaters are hosts of the greater honeyguide and the lesser honeyguide, both brood parasites. The young honeyguides kill the bee-eater's chicks and destroy any eggs. The begging call of the honeyguide sounds like two bee-eater chicks, ensuring a good supply of food from the adult bee-eaters.
  Bee-eaters may be infested by several blood-feeding flies of the genus Carnus, and the biting fly Ornithophila metallica. Other parasites include chewing lice of the genera Meromenopon, Brueeliaa and Meropoecus, some of which are specialist parasites of bee-eaters, and the stickfast flea Echidnophaga gallinacea. The hole-nesting lifestyle of bee-eaters means that they tend to carry a higher burden of external parasites than non-hole-nesting bird species. Bee-eaters may also be infected by protozoan blood parasites of the genus Haemoproteus including H. meropis.
  Fly larvae of the genus Fannia live in the nests of at least European bee-eaters, and feed on faeces and food remains. Their presence and cleaning activities appear to benefit the developing bee-eaters.
caption: Green bee-eaters dust bathing to keep down parasites
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