Merops nubicoides
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
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 |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Carmine Bee-eater sighting in Mana Pools National Park on a given day, based on 200 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 46th most-seen of the 275 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November and December
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Carmine Bee-eater in Mana Pools National Park on a given day, against about 10% in May, the lowest month. Those are among Mana Pools National Park's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against almost none in August. March has too few records to rate.
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.
Yes
Of the 13 parks where we can rate Southern Carmine Bee-eater sightings, Mana Pools National Park has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come 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 Mana Pools National Park (genus Merops, Typical Bee-eaters) are White-fronted Bee-eater (about 70%), Little Bee-eater (about 60%) and European Bee-eater (about 10%), 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 Mana Pools National Park (200 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.
