Merops lafresnayii
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The Ethiopian bee-eater (Merops lafresnayii) is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. It is found in Ethiopia and Sudan. It was formerly considered a subspecies of either blue-breasted bee-eater M. variegatus or cinnamon-chested bee-eater M. oreobates, from both of which it is allopatric with a separate distribution.
The Ethiopian bee-eater is a bird of open montane woodland (including coffee and eucalyptus plantations), occurring at 1,000–3,200 metres (3,300–10,500 ft) altitude, often on steep slopes, but also on flatter land on the Ethiopian plateau. Like its two relatives, it is usually solitary or in pairs, not gregarious like many other bee-eaters. It perches on a branch in the canopy beside tracks and clearings and swoops down on small butterflies, bees, and other insects before returning to its original or another perch.
Ethiopian bee-eater is one of a group of African species that have sometimes been classified in a separate genus Mellitophagus, distinguished by small size, rounded wingtips, lack of tail streamers, and non-colonial behaviour. The other species in this group are blue-breasted bee-eater M. variegatus, cinnamon-chested bee-eater M. oreobates... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report an Ethiopian Bee-eater sighting in Addis Ababa on a given day, based on 87 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 26th most-seen of the 109 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and September
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report an Ethiopian Bee-eater in Addis Ababa on a given day, against about 20% in March, June, August and October, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ethiopian 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.
Only Addis Ababa, in our data
Addis Ababa is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Ethiopian Bee-eater sightings: about 30% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ethiopian Bee-eater is recorded against all the birds logged in Addis Ababa (87 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.
