White-fronted Bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

Insectivorous

• As are all bee-eater species

Bee-eaters regurgitate 3-6 pellets of indigestible insect parts each day.

• Pellets accumulate below colonies
• Useful in studying diet
• Excellent record accumulates of their diet, on ground below colonies.

Travel to defended foraging areas that can be 4-7 km (2.5-4.4 mi) from colony site. (Hegner et al 1982)

Feed in air, foraging 50-100 m (164-328 ft) above ground for 5-10 minutes at a time. (Fry 1984).

Technique for making bees ready to eat while on a perch: (Fry 1984)

• Position bee so it is held just behind the thorax.
• Smack bee's head against perch.
• Quickly change grip to hold tip of abdomen.
• Rub tail-end against perch till it and the sting is crushed.
• Rap head once or twice
• Swallow bee.
• A bee-eater raised in managed care by Fry (1984) learned, on its own, in about 10 attempts, to prepare a bee for eating.

Occasionally take small fish, observed in filmed behavior and from regurgitated pellets containing fish bones. (Fry 1984)

Image credit: © Derek Keats Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Image credit: © Brian Scott Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Hegner et al (1982)
Fry (1984)