Little Bee-eater

The Little Bee-eater is the smallest bee-eater in Africa, a compact, brightly plumaged bird often seen perched on low twigs, fences, or reed stems over open ground.

Appearance

• Bright green crown, back, and wings
• Golden-yellow throat bordered below by a narrow black gorget (breast band)
• Warm cinnamon-brown crown wash and rufous-tinged underparts
• Black eye-stripe bordered above and below by pale blue lines
• Short, squared-off tail with a thin black terminal band — unlike the elongated tail streamers of larger bee-eaters

Sexes look alike, and juveniles are a duller, more washed-out version of the adult pattern.

Key field marks

• Very small size (about sparrow-sized or smaller)
• Short tail without streamers, unlike Carmine or European Bee-eaters
• Yellow throat sharply demarcated by a black breast band
• Green upperparts with a rufous wash on the crown and underparts

Similar species

• Larger bee-eaters (Carmine, White-fronted, European) are noticeably bigger and show longer, often streamered tails.
• Swallow-tailed Bee-eater is similar in size but has a forked, blue-black tail and lacks the rufous underparts.
• Overall, the combination of tiny size, short square tail, and black gorget on a yellow throat is diagnostic.

Range

Widespread across sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal and The Gambia east to Ethiopia and Somalia, and south through East Africa to South Africa.

Habitat

Favors open country: savanna, grassland, cultivated land, and marsh or riverine edges, usually near water. It perches conspicuously on low bushes, fence wires, or reed tips rather than high in trees.

Movements

Largely resident, though some populations make local or seasonal movements linked to rainfall and insect abundance.

Behavior

Hunts by sallying from a low perch to snatch flying insects in the air, then returns to the same or a nearby perch to beat and rub the prey against the perch before swallowing it — a technique that removes stingers from bees and wasps.

Voice

Gives soft, high-pitched contact notes and a light trilling twitter, quieter and less far-carrying than the calls of larger bee-eaters.

Feeding

Diet is almost entirely flying insects, especially bees, wasps, and flying ants, taken in short aerial sallies.

Nesting

Excavates a narrow tunnel nest in flat or sloping sandy ground, low earth banks, or road cuttings, rather than tall river cliffs. Pairs may nest solitarily or in loose, small colonies, and lay 4–6 white eggs.