The European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is one of Europe's most vividly coloured birds and, in practice, unmistakable, a slender bird in the bee-eater family, a predominantly tropical group centred on southern latitudes. It measures 27-29 cm in length, has a wingspan of 44-49 cm and weighs 50-70 grams. The plumage is a brilliant mosaic of chestnut-brown crown and back, golden-yellow throat, turquoise-blue underside and green wing panels, all set off by a black mask through the eye. The bill is long, slender and slightly downcurved, and the central tail feathers are elongated into fine streamers. In flight the silhouette is distinctive, with pointed wings and a light, swallow-like gliding style.
The bee-eater often betrays its presence with its call before it is seen, a soft, ringing, rolling "prruit-prruit" given by birds in flight. It breeds normally in southern Europe, North Africa and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa, with Sweden now sitting at the very northern edge of its range as the species expands north with the warming climate; since the 2000s, isolated colonies have established on Öland, Gotland and in Skåne, though the Swedish population remains tiny, from a handful to a few dozen pairs, varying between years. It arrives late in spring and leaves again by late summer. Bee-eaters nest colonially, excavating a long tunnel straight into a vertical sand bank or earthen wall, much like the sand martin, with 4-7 eggs laid at the tunnel's end and incubated by both sexes; breeding pairs are often assisted by non-breeding helpers that feed the young. As a specialised aerial insect hunter it feeds on bees, wasps and bumblebees along with dragonflies and beetles, striking the sting from its prey against a perch before swallowing it.
Read about this species in Swedish →