Merops nubicus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The northern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicus) is a brightly-coloured bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. It is found across northern tropical Africa, from Senegal eastwards to Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the southern carmine bee-eater which has a carmine coloured throat rather than the blue throat of the northern species.
The northern carmine bee-eater was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other bee-eaters in the genus Merops and coined the binomial name Merops nubicus. Gmelin based his description on "Le guépier rouge à tête bleu" or "Guépier de Nubie" that had been described and illustrated in 1779 by French polymath Comte de Buffon in his multi-volume book Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. Buffon had been provided with a picture drawn by the Scottish traveller and writer James Bruce who had visited Nubia in 1770–1771. It is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The northern carmine bee-eater was formerly treated as conspecific with the southern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicoides... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 3 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Basel Zoo | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | |
| 4 | Zoorasia | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 5 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Columbus Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Saint Louis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Tierpark Hagenbeck | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Cologne Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 12 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 13 | Kobe Animal Kingdom | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 14 | National Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Cologne Zoo Aquarium | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Carmine Bee-eater sighting in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, based on 30 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 180th most-seen of the 272 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
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Carmine Bee-eater in Mkomazi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and September–December, the lowest months. May has too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Carmine 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.
5th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Northern Carmine Bee-eater sightings, Mkomazi National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Awash National Park (Ethiopia, about 60%), Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 40%) and Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Merops
The closest relatives of the Northern Carmine Bee-eater that you can see in Mkomazi National Park (genus Merops, Typical Bee-eaters) are Little Bee-eater (about 40%), Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (about 20%) and Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Carmine Bee-eater is recorded against all the birds logged in Mkomazi National Park (30 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.
