Merops nubicoides
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The southern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicoides) is a species of bee-eater found across sub-equatorial Africa. It was formerly considered conspecific with the closely related northern carmine bee-eater, with the combined species then known as carmine bee-eater.
This species, like other bee-eaters, is richly coloured and is predominantly carmine in colouration, but the crown and undertail are blue. The southern carmine bee-eater occurs from KwaZulu-Natal and Namibia to Gabon, the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. The bee-eater is a migratory species, spending the breeding season, between August and November, in Zimbabwe and Zambia, before moving as far south as South Africa for the summer months, and then migrating to Equatorial Africa from March to August.
Their diet is made up primarily of bees and other flying insects, and their major hunting strategy involves hawking flying insects from perch. Perches may include branches of vegetation or even the backs of large animals, such as the kori bustard. They are attracted to wildfires because of the flushed insects, and are often seen circling high in... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mana Pools National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 2 | Lower Zambezi National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 3 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Chobe National Park | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 5 | Moremi Game Reserve | 🇧🇼 Botswana | |
| 6 | Hwange National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 7 | Gonarezhou National Park | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 8 | Gorongosa National Park | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 9 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 11 | Kafue National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 12 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 13 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Carmine Bee-eater sighting in Kruger National Park on a given day, based on 1,190 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 176th most-seen of the 464 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.
January and February
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Carmine Bee-eater in Kruger National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to December, the lowest months. Those are among Kruger National Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against almost none in August.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Carmine Bee-eater sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 13
Of the 13 parks where we can rate Southern Carmine Bee-eater sightings, Kruger National Park ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Mana Pools National Park (Zimbabwe, about 40%), Lower Zambezi National Park (Zambia, about 30%) and South Luangwa National Park (Zambia, about 30%).
Same genus: Merops
The closest relatives of the Southern Carmine Bee-eater that you can see in Kruger National Park (genus Merops, Typical Bee-eaters) are White-fronted Bee-eater (about 40%), European Bee-eater (about 30%) and Little Bee-eater (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Carmine Bee-eater is recorded against all the birds logged in Kruger National Park (1,190 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
