Every year from August the skies over southern Africa come alive with the movement of thousands of birds, glimmering like crimson coloured jewels in the sunlight. Follow the flight of the southern Carmine Bee-eater with us on your southern African safari.
The southern Carmine bee-eater occurs all over sub-equatorial Africa from Kwa-Zulu Natal to Namibia, the Eastern Congo and Kenya. This small yet still magnificent bird is easily identified by its carmine colour with brilliant blue feathers on its crown and under its tail. Their gorgeous appearance and airborne skirmishes are enchanting and a favourite subject for photographers.
Their migration patterns are equally interesting, occurring in three distinct parts
The birds over-winter in the Equatorial savannahs of central Africa, fattening themselves up for their journey southward.
Without fail every year, as soon as August comes around the bee-eaters are on the move. Driven southward to their breeding grounds all along the Zambezi River, they arrive in their thousands, blurring the heavens with their fluttering wings and brilliant hues.
For days, a seemingly endless swarm of birds arrives, fluttering down onto the sands, drilling their nests into the river banks, clamouring in the reed beds and staging dramatic courtship battles over the water.
The Southern Carmine Bee-eaters burrow their 1m tunnels into vertical sand banks or level areas of small islands and get down to the business of procreating. Gatherings of over 1 500 birds at a time are not uncommon and up to 10 000 nests have been recorded in places.
For three months the river banks bristle with the whirring of thousands of wings and brilliant flashes of colour as they dart in and out of these nests. In the early morning they emerge to forage for bees, returning to bash their victims against a perch to remove the stings, before feeding them to their young.
Intra-Africa migrants
All too soon the spectacle is over and once again the flocks are on the move. December sees them disperse to their summer homes further south, their newly-fledged young in tow. There they remain, scattered throughout South Africa until February, before beginning their long journey back to the equator.
Get in touch with us if you would like to catch up with these fascinating birds in Zambia, Botswana or Zimbabwe during your southern African safari.
