Merops apiaster
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a bird species in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. It has the largest range of any bee-eater species. It breeds in southern and central Europe, northern and southern Africa, and western Asia. Except for the resident southern African population, the species is strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa. This species occurs as a spring overshoot north of its usual range, with occasional breeding in northern Europe.
The European bee-eater was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under its current binomial name Merops apiaster. The genus name Merops (μέροψ) is Ancient Greek for "bee-eater", and apiaster is Latin, also meaning "bee-eater", from apis, "bee".
This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It has brown and yellow upper parts, whilst the wings are green and the beak is black. It can reach a length of 27–29 cm (10.6–11.4 in), including the two elongated central tail feathers, and weigh 44–78 g (52 g on average). Sexes are alike. Female tends to have greener rather than gold feathers... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zürich Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 2 | Warsaw Zoo | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Dierenpark Hoenderdaell | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 4 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 6 | Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Cleres Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Plock Zoo | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 9 | Frankfurt Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Oasi Naturalistica di Sant'Alessio | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 11 | Tiergarten Teltow | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 12 | herpetarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 13 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 14 | hipopotamiarnia i akwarium morskie warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 15 | Landgoed Hoenderdaell | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a European Bee-eater sighting in Antalya on a given day, based on 58 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 56th most-seen of the 131 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a European Bee-eater in Antalya on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and October–March, the lowest months. Those are among Antalya's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 180 mm in January.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most European 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.
16th of 47
Of the 47 cities where we can rate European Bee-eater sightings, Antalya ranks 16th at about 10%. The best odds are in Harare (Zimbabwe, about 20%), Yerevan (Armenia, about 20%) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, about 20%).
Same order: Coraciiformes
The closest relatives of the European Bee-eater that you can see in Antalya (order Coraciiformes, Rollers, Kingfishers, and Allies) are Common Kingfisher (about 40%) and White-throated Kingfisher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the European Bee-eater is recorded against all the birds logged in Antalya (58 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.
