Merops bullockoides
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) is a species of bee-eater widely distributed in sub-equatorial Africa. The species has a distinctive white forehead, a square tail, and a bright red patch on its throat. It nests in small colonies, digging holes in cliffs or earthen banks, and can usually be seen in low trees, waiting to hunt passing insects by making quick hawking flights or gliding down before hovering briefly to catch the prey.
This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird, but with a distinctive black mask, white forehead, square tail and a bright red throat. The size is 23 cm (9 in.). The upperparts are green, with cinnamon underparts. The call is a deep squeak.
White-fronted bee-eaters are found in the vast savannah regions of sub-equatorial Africa. The habitat commonly consists of open country, often near gullies, where bees, their prey, live. White-fronted bee-eaters nest in colonies averaging 200 individuals, digging, roosting, and nesting holes in cliffs or banks of earth. A population of bee-eaters may range across many square kilometres of savannah... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Tierpark Hagenbeck | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Cologne Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Schönbrunn Zoo | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 9 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Cologne Zoo Aquarium | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-fronted Bee-eater sighting in uMkhuze Game Reserve on a given day, based on 36 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 186th most-seen of the 283 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.
April, June and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a White-fronted Bee-eater in uMkhuze Game Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in February, July and November–December, the lowest months. Those are among uMkhuze Game Reserve's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 120 mm in February.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-fronted 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.
15th of 25
Of the 25 parks where we can rate White-fronted Bee-eater sightings, uMkhuze Game Reserve ranks 15th at about 10%. The best odds are in Lower Zambezi National Park (Zambia, about 70%), Mana Pools National Park (Zimbabwe, about 70%) and South Luangwa National Park (Zambia, about 70%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Merops
The closest relatives of the White-fronted Bee-eater that you can see in uMkhuze Game Reserve (genus Merops, Typical Bee-eaters) are European Bee-eater (about 40%), Little Bee-eater (about 40%) and Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-fronted Bee-eater is recorded against all the birds logged in uMkhuze Game Reserve (36 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.
