Range

Africa is the native home of the northern carmine bee-eater. They are found in a band across the northern part of the continent in the following countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.

Habitat

They make their home in a wide variety of habitats such as forests, savanna, shrubland, grassland and inland wetlands.

Reproduction

Eggs are laid from February to June depending on the location of the population. Nesting takes place in colonies of up to 1,000 pairs.

Males will present females with an insect they have caught as part of their courtship.

The nest is a tunnel dug in to a sandy river back or cliff face. These nest holes are dug by the birds using their slightly curved beak. This occurs after the rainy season when the ground is soft.

Each pair create two to three nest sites and select the one with the best microclimate to raise their eggs in.

Two to five eggs will be deposited in to this nest and incubated for 20 days. Females and males share incubation.

At birth the chicks are blind and featherless. These chicks fledge after 20-25 days. The parents will bring the chicks small insects during this time. The parents continue to provide food for another 6 weeks.

Behavior

Their main vocalization is a metallic 'took, took' call.

They are active by the day. Most feeding takes place in the morning before the flock return to the nest site in the afternoon to preen and socialize. The night is spent in their burrow.

These birds are social living in flocks of up to 1,000 birds which will nest together.

Northern carmine bee-eaters will bathe in water or dust to rid their body of ectoparasites.

Predators and Threats

Natural predators of the northern carmine bee-eater include monitor lizards which take eggs from their nests.

Small numbers of these birds are hunted for the pet trade, food and to collect their feathers. Another threat is revenge killings due to a mistaken belief that they threaten bee hives.

Quick facts

This species can be distinguished from the closely related southern carmine bee-eater as those birds have a red throat while these have a blue-green throat.

Previously these two species were listed as subspecies of the same species but now have been elevated to full species level.