Tag: photography

European Bee-eaters

On By Bernadette SimpsonIn BirdsLeave a comment

Time to finally feature my favorite bird – the European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)! I fell in love with these birds when I lived in Cairo, where I enjoyed watching them from the balcony of my sixth-floor apartment. These bee-eaters are passage migrants through Egypt in the spring and autumn. They spend winters in tropical Africa and then head north to their breeding grounds in Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. Their arrival in Egypt in late March or early April marks the official start of Spring for me. When I first spot them, I send a message to my father living in Italy and then, several weeks later, he lets me know when he first sees them there. It’s become a fun tradition!

“Bee-eater – Abelharuco” by António Pena, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

European Bee-eaters are also known as Golden Bee-eaters because of their beautiful coloration. In Sinai, the Jebeliya tribe call them banat barik in Arabic, meaning “sparkling girls”. Bee-eaters are slender birds with chestnut-colored crowns and mantles, bright yellow throats and lower backs, and rich turquoise blue breasts and bellies. They sport a black face mask and breast band that divides their yellow throat from their blue breasts. Males and females look similar, but the females tend to be slightly paler and less colorful. Although quite distinctive, it is possible to confuse these European bee-eaters with their beautiful cousins, the Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters (Merops persicus).

“Abelharuco-europeu, a desfrutar da companhia.. European Bee-eater, enjoying the company..” by Luiz Lapa, CC BY 2.0

Gregarious, bee-eaters occur in flocks – feeding, roosting, and nesting in groups. Their characteristic flight call, a prroop prroop sound, is what alerts me to their presence overhead. Bee-eaters are graceful fliers, effortlessly gliding and swooping in a manner similar to swallows. They hunt insects on the wing (during flight), typically feeding 1 – 3 hours after sunrise and 2 – 3 hours before sunset, times when you are most likely to hear their calls or spot small groups circling overhead in flight.

“Abejaruco europeo – Merops apiaster – Abelharuco-comum – Guêpier d’Europe – Gruccione europeo – European Bee-eater – Bienenfresser –” by Agustín Povedano, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

As their name suggests, they feed on bees, but their prey ultimately depends on weather conditions, region, and breeding season. Hundreds of species have been identified as prey, including wasps, hornets, flies, dragonflies, butterflies, moths, bugs, cicadas, water scorpions, mantids, beetles, grasshoppers, locusts, and winged ants and termites. Some smaller insects are eaten in flight, others are brought back to a perch where the bird beats or rubs the insect against the perch to kill it before tossing it up in the air and swallowing it. It has often been assumed that the birds do this to remove stingers and venom, but this has been shown to be incorrect. Stingers are often swallowed and the venom is not removed. Further research is needed to determine if toxins actually enter the birds’ tissues and whether their colorful plummage is therefore acting as a warning coloration.

“Abelharuco-europeu, European Bee-eater” by Luiz Lapa, CC BY 2.0
“abejaruco europeo (merops apiaster) 2” by José Manuel Armengod, CC BY-ND 2.0

When they aren’t feeding, European bee-eaters spend a lot of their time sunbathing and dustbathing, interspersed with preening, scratching, and stretching.

European bee-eaters are typically monogamous, pair bonds lasting for several years and sometimes for life. Their nests are tunnels dug into steep walls, vertical banks, or trenches. Each tunnel is about 1.5 – 2 m long and are excavated by both sexes. Both males and females care for the eggs.

“European Bee-eaters – Bijeneters (Merops apiaster)” by Martha de Jong-Lantink, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I can hear their calls now as I type this. Have you heard them in Dahab or elsewhere in Sinai?

(If you’re a regular visitor to my blog, Facebook page, or Instagram account, you probably know by now that I am NOT a bird photographer. Many, many thanks to all the talented photographers who share their work with Creative Commons licenses.)

References:

Bastian, H.-V. and A. Bastian (2024). European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster), version 3.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman and B. K. Keeney, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.eubeat1.03

Tippett RM 2024. European Bee-eater Merops apiaster. Biodiversity and Development Institute. Available online at https://thebdi.org/2024/07/29/european-bee-eater-merops-apiaster/

More about the Hairy Rose Beetle in Sinai

On By Bernadette SimpsonIn Arthropods4 Comments

Wow! It’s been just over a year since I last posted on the blog. Where does the time go? I know that for a good part of last year, I was busy updating and publishing the fourth edition of my guidebook. Now that I’ve finished that, my intention this year is to share one of the many cool plants and animals of Sinai at least once a month. Let’s see how it goes. 🙂

I’m going to start the year off with the Hairy Rose Beetle (Tropinota squalida). I spotted one in my garden last week – a clear indication of our recent warm weather and the winter that hasn’t really come to Dahab yet.

Hairy Rose Beetles are a type of scarab beetle, a member of the Scarabaeidae Family of insects. If you’ve also spotted them in your garden, you probably know that these beetles can be an agricultural pest. That’s because the adult beetles feed on flower buds and all parts of the mature flowers – the pistils, stamens, and petals – making the production of fruit by that flower impossible. These beetles really liked the nimnam plant (Schouwia purpurea) that used to grow in my garden, and I was often alerted to their presence by the debris left behind. (See photo below.)

The beetles, both larvae and adults, live primarily underground and have legs adapted to digging. The adults emerge from the ground to eat and then return to the soil, only to come out again in a few days to continue eating. The larvae feed on roots and rotting plant material, playing an important ecological role in the recycling of decomposing vegetable matter into the soil.

Hairy Rose Beetles are just that – hairy! Their dark brown bodies, 1 – 1 ½ cm long, are covered with thick tawny-colored hair on their elytra and abdomens. (Elytra are the hardened forewings that protect the hindwings that are used in flight.) This hair wears off with age. The elytra are also covered with small yellowish flecks.

These beetles are sun seekers and are typically found in bright, open areas. They are energetic but clumsy fliers. In fact, you can often catch them easily with your hands.

I can’t say for sure if I’ve seen Hairy Rose Beetles in the wadis, but I have spotted other closely-related chafer beetles, like the one pictured below – an Oxythyrea species (maybe O.noemi) feeding on a starthistle (Centaurea scoparia).

Have you seen Hairy Rose Beetles in your garden? Are they pests?