Bee-eaters are brightly coloured birds usually found in Africa and Asia, as well as some parts of Southern Europe and Australia.
But as the planet heats up, we may start to see warm-weather birds like bee-eaters appearing in more northerly countries like the UK. It could also mean that some native birds start to disappear. For example, cuckoos are very common in the UK, but make a huge round trip every year to Southern Africa during the winter. This means crossing the Sahara, but as the Sahara heats up, there may be less food available to the migrating cuckoos, which means cuckoos could end up disappearing from the UK altogether.
We also have to consider what the arrival of new species of birds might mean. For example, what would the arrival of bee-eaters mean for the local bee populations? To be fair, the name “bee-eaters” doesn’t do them any favours, and bee-eaters are quick to point out that while they do eat alot of bees, they also eat alot of other insects like wasps and hornets.
And let’s be honest, no one cares about wasps or hornets, so “wasp-eater” or “hornet-eater” would probably have been better options. Even the scientific world seems determined to emphasise their least popular feature, as their scientific name Merops apiaster, literally means “bee-eater, bee-eater”.
Bee-eaters are able to eat stinging insects by rubbing the insects against a hard surface to remove the stinger and then squeezing the body to get rid of the venom. This sounds pretty harsh, but the good news for bees is that bee-eaters rarely attack the hive itself, and also rarely eat insects on the ground.
Instead, they prefer to use their excellent eyesight and expert flying skills to pick off bees mid-air. And whilst this isn’t great for bees trying to get home after work, it does mean bees inside the hive are relatively safe, so bee-eaters are unlikely to wipe out hives entirely.
Interestingly, a study of bee behaviour showed that rather than stay indoors when bee-eaters were around, bees actually increased their foraging rates, which also suggests that the arrival of bee-eaters might not be a huge threat to bee populations.
Only some bee-eater species are migratory, although the European bee-eaters might want to reconsider their route to avoid Cyprus, as for some reason Cypriots shoot several thousand bee-eaters every year.
Bee-eaters also have a place in mythology, with people who spread gossip thought to be reincarnated as bee-eaters, because they have “poison in their mouths”, which shows the ancient Greeks had good imaginations as well as a pretty good understanding of bee-eater biology.
