Carmine Bee-eaters (Merops nubicus & M. nubicoides) Fact Sheet: Population & Conservation Status

Global population estimate for Northern and Southern Carmine Bee-eaters

• 1980s: rough estimate of 5 million birds (two species combined) (Fry 1984)

Regional population estimates

• 1990s in Zimbabwe (Southern Carmine Bee-eater)
  • c. 37,500 (Fry 2001)

No bee-eater species currently of serious conservation concern (Fry 2001)

• Range of both species extremely large
  • Not considered vulnerable because of this size (needs to be less than 20,000 km sq to be considered Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List)
• Colonies in some regions increasingly concentrated in protected areas
  • National parks and the Zambezi River Valley through portions of Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique are important areas for these birds
• Population declines in some areas not sufficient to classify as vulnerable
  • Decline does not meet the IUCN thresholds for Vulnerable due to population size guidelines
    • IUCN guidelines may not reflect actual situation for migratory birds such as these Bee-eaters

IUCN Status

• Northern Carmine Bee-eater, M. nubicus
  • Least Concern (2016 assessment) (Birdlife International 2016a)
  • Past assessments
    • 2004-2012: Least Concern
    • 1988-2000: Lower Risk/least concern
• Southern Carmine Bee-eater, M. nubicoides
  • Least Concern (2016 assessment) (Birdlife International 2016b)
  • Past assessments
    • 2004-2012: Least Concern
    • 1988-2000: Lower Risk/least concern

CITES Status

• Not listed

Potential threats

• Intensified land/water use by humans
  • Increasing use of insecticides (e.g., to control tsetse flies)
• Habitat degradation
  • Silting of rivers due to poor land management practices and dam construction (Fry 2001)
  • Changes in water levels due to dams, erosion of cliffs, and speedboat use (del Hoyo et al. 2018)
• Persecution by humans
• Exploited for food (del Hoyo et al. 2018)
  • Sometimes to local extinction
• Starvation, due to insect scarcity after severe dry season (del Hoyo et al. 2018)

Southern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicoides) in northwestern Botswana.

Image credit: © Tarique Sani from Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Fry (2001)
IUCN (2008)