Whitethroated Bee-eater

Whitethroated Bee-eater

Merops albicollis

Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~20% · Possible
at Abidjan

In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%

23 Verified sightings at Abidjan
1,818 In all 16 parks From 2019 to 2026
April Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Whitethroated Bee-eater

The white-throated bee-eater (Merops albicollis) is a species of bee-eater that breeds in semi-desert along the southern edge of the Sahara. The white-throated bee-eater is migratory, wintering in a completely different habitat in the equatorial rain forests of Africa from southern Senegal to Uganda.

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green, but its face and throat are white with a black crown, eye stripe, and neckband. The underparts are pale green shading to blue on the breast. The eye is red and the beak is black.

The white-throated bee-eater can reach a length of 19–21 cm, excluding the two very elongated central tail feathers, which can exceed an additional length of 12 cm. They weigh between 20 and 28 grams. Sexes are alike, except that the male has longer tail feathers. The call is similar to European bee-eater.

White-throated bee-eaters also feed and roost communally. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. However, this species probably takes mainly flying ants and beetles... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:19

Saudi Arabia · 2026

© Mischa Keijmel · XC1141832 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Flight call0:20

Saudi Arabia · 2022

© David Darrell-Lambert · XC746340 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song0:15

Guinea-Bissau · 2020

© Joost van Bruggen · XC523062 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Meru National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~60%
2 Samburu National Reserve 🇰🇪 Kenya
~50%
3 Awash National Park 🇪🇹 Ethiopia
~20%
4 Semuliki National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~20%
5 Queen Elizabeth National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~20%
6 Kibale National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~10%
7 Tsavo East National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%
8 Virunga National Park 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo
~10%
9 Bwindi Impenetrable National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
<5%
10 Tsavo West National Park 🇰🇪 Kenya
<5%
11 Murchison Falls National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
<5%
12 Masai Mara National Reserve 🇰🇪 Kenya
<5%
13 Arusha National Park 🇹🇿 Tanzania
<5%
14 Ngorongoro Conservation Area 🇹🇿 Tanzania
<5%
15 Lake Mburo National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
<5%
16 Kruger National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kampala 🇺🇬 Uganda
~30%
2 Lagos 🇳🇬 Nigeria
~20%
3 Abidjan 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire
~20%
4 Accra 🇬🇭 Ghana
~10%
5 Freetown 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
~10%
6 Cotonou 🇧🇯 Benin
~10%
7 Lomé 🇹🇬 Togo
~10%
8 Mombasa 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%
9 Abuja 🇳🇬 Nigeria
<5%
10 Serrekunda 🇬🇲 Gambia
<5%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 San Diego Zoo 🇺🇸 United States In captivity
2 Bronx Zoo 🇺🇸 United States In captivity
3 National Aviary 🇺🇸 United States In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Whitethroated Bee-eater in Abidjan?

Possible

About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Whitethroated Bee-eater sighting in Abidjan on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 21st most-seen of the 58 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Whitethroated Bee-eater in Abidjan?

April

In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Whitethroated Bee-eater in Abidjan on a given day, against about 10% in June to October, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Whitethroated Bee-eater?

Between 9 am and noon

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Whitethroated Bee-eater sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Abidjan the best place to see a Whitethroated Bee-eater?

3rd of 10

Of the 10 cities where we can rate Whitethroated Bee-eater sightings, Abidjan ranks 3rd at about 20%. The best odds are in Kampala (Uganda, about 30%) and Lagos (Nigeria, about 20%).

Where does the Whitethroated Bee-eater sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Whitethroated Bee-eater is recorded against all the birds logged in Abidjan (23 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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