Merops superciliosus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The olive bee-eater or Madagascar bee-eater (Merops superciliosus) is a bee-eater species in the genus Merops. It is native to the southern half of Africa where it is present in Angola; Botswana; Burundi; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Kenya; Madagascar; Malawi; Mayotte; Mozambique; Namibia; Rwanda; Somalia; South Sudan; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe. It is a common species with a wide range so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated their conservation status as "least concern".
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the olive bee-eater in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected on the island of Madagascar. He used the French name Le guespier de Madagascar and the Latin Apiaster Madagascariensis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the olive... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ankarafantsika National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Mantadia National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 3 | Selous Game Reserve | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 5 | Berenty Reserve | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 6 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 7 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| 9 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 11 | Liwonde National Park | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 12 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 13 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 14 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 15 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 16 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 17 | South Luangwa National Park | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 18 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 19 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 20 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antananarivo | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar Bee-eater sighting in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, based on 50 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 177th most-seen of the 345 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Madagascar Bee-eater in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–August and October, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Madagascar 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 20
Of the 20 parks where we can rate Madagascar Bee-eater sightings, Tsavo East National Park ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Ankarafantsika National Park (Madagascar, about 70%), Mantadia National Park (Madagascar, about 50%) and Selous Game Reserve (Tanzania, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Merops
The closest relatives of the Madagascar Bee-eater that you can see in Tsavo East National Park (genus Merops, Typical Bee-eaters) are Somali Bee-eater (about 20%), Little Bee-eater (about 20%) and Northern Carmine Bee-eater (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Madagascar Bee-eater is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo East National Park (50 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.
