Little Bee-eater Merops pusillus Scientific name definitions

16–17 cm; 13–19 g. The smallest bee-eater. Crown and upperparts green; broad black eyestripe ; cheeks and throat yellow, bordered below by black gorget with cinnamon band below that; rest of underparts rich buff; some rufous in wings, secondaries tipped black; green tertials tend to wear or fade to bluish; iris red. Differs from very similar M. variegatus in having little or no white bordering yellow cheeks; from M. oreobates in much smaller size, less rich colours and little or no white bordering yellow cheeks. Sexes alike. Juvenile lacks black gorget, has pale yellowish-buff chin and throat merging into light green breast and buff flanks and belly; breast faintly mottled or streaked, upper breast washed with brown. Racial differences rather slight: cyanostictus has blue forehead and supercilium, narrow purple-blue line between throat and gorget; meridionalis has thin, short blue supercilium , very narrow bluish-white line above gorget ; argutus and ocularis paler than meridionalis, former with slightly smaller gorget and latter with somewhat less pronounced supercilium.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Grassy places, seldom far from water: in dry season frequents marshes, lakeshores, riverbanks, streamsides, and in wet season also cultivated land, lightly and sometimes heavily wooded savanna, grassy clearings in forest, bushy sand dunes, grassy rock outcrops, and treeless plains. Particularly favours drying-out marshes with waist-high grasses and sedges interspersed with woody Mimosa pigra thickets. Quick to spread into cleared land in forest, where Panicum and other grasses are invading.

Resident, and sedentary or locally dispersive and nomadic. Seasonal shifts in abundance at a given locality often noticed, and new data suggest some partial migration out of Botswana and into Zimbabwe and Transvaal at beginning of austral winter; however, no ringing or other good evidence for long-distance migration.

Feeds on large variety of small insects taken on wing, mainly 4·5–12 mm long, some up to 30 mm long: mostly honeybees , Trigona bees, halictid bees, ants, digger wasps, spider-hunting and vespid wasps, ichneumons, and chalcidoid and scolioid wasps; also beetles, flies, damselflies, crickets, pygmy mole-crickets, bugs, butterflies, mayflies, ant-lions (Myrmeleonidae), termites and cockroaches. Hymenoptera comprise 40–75% of diet. Forages up to 20 m above ground but mainly low down, perching on grass stems or at side of thorn shrub and hawking just above soil or the herb layer. Watches from perch , often in pairs, for passing insects and gives more or less horizontal chase; most prey taken within a few metres of perch; sometimes “fly-catches” diagonally upwards. Generally makes c. 40 forays/hour, with roughly one-third being successful.

Despite being a fairly common, widespread species, surprisingly little has been documented about its voice. While admittedly its plumage is what first strikes an observer, its vocabulary is definitely quite interesting as well for a non-passerine.

Vocal Development

Unknown. Begging calls of fledglings inside burrows have not been documented, and even juveniles outside the nest seem to be surprisingly quiet and patient while waiting to be fed by parents (see ML201029031 ).

Vocal Array

Tsip. A very short rather high-pitched peeping note. Sonogram shows a polyphonic note with a duration of c 0.08s and highest fundamental frequency c 5‒6kHz.

Tsilip. A disyllabic short high-pitched peeping note. Sonogram shows an irregular M-shape with a duration of c 0.15s and highest fundamental frequency c 5‒6kHz.

Greeting call. A lively tinkling phrase of c 1.5‒3s duration. This phrase is a random combination of longer piping overslurred whistles with short "tsip" and "tsilip" calls, sounding like "peeuw-tsip-tsilip-tsilip-tsip-peeuw-tsilip".

Reedy call. A high-pitched descending trill "trrreee". Sonogram of trilled notes shows 7-12 elements, a duration of c 0.3‒0.45s and highest fundamental frequency c 4.5‒5kHz.

Geographic Variation

"Tsip" call in West Africa (race pusillus) consistently different from eastern races, especially apparent on sonogram: western birds utter a polyphonic call consisting of a sharply overslurred element reaching c 3.5kHz combined with a simple upslurred element reaching c 5.5kHz, while call in eastern races is also polyphonic but slightly more complex lacking a clear overslurred element at 3.5kHz.

Phenology

Little known. "Tsip" and "tsilip" calls are presumably uttered all year, while greeting call and reedy call are typically heard during the breeding season.

Daily Pattern of Vocalizing

Vocalisations can be heard all day, with no particular preference for early morning or late afternoon.

Places of Vocalizing

Birds vocalize both when perched or in flight. Perches typically on small branches, twigs, grass stems or reed culms, at low level up to about 10m.

Sex Differences

None documented.

Social Content and Presumed Functions of Vocalizations

Single birds are often silent or utter a single "tsip" call now and then. When more birds are present, "tsip" and "tsilip" calls are heard far more frequently, and excited birds may give fast salvo's of such contact calls. Functional difference between these two call types is however unclear. When a second bird lands close to another one perched, its presumed mate may utter a lively greeting call, possibly for pair bonding. At least near the breeding sites, long series of the reedy call can be heard, also by flying birds, but context and function are unknown.

None documented.

Fledglings seen Feb–Jul in Sierra Leone; eggs in Jan in Mali; in Nigeria laying starts later with increasing latitude, from Mar in C Nigeria to early Jul in extreme N, towards end of cool, dry season; in E Africa lays in all months, around Nairobi mainly in Sept; farther S, Sept–Oct in Zambia, Sept–Feb in Zimbabwe, Sept–Nov (mainly Oct) in South Africa. Excavates solitary nest-burrow , 100 cm long, in low sand cliff, tall cliff, near colony of another Merops species, in side of drainage ditch or plough furrow, in gently sloping soil, in flat ground in lee of small tussock or dry herbivore dung, or in side of dried-out hoof mark of large mammal; where aardvarks (Orycteropus afer) common, often in sloping roof just inside entrance of lair. Clutch of 4–6 eggs, average 4·4 in Nigeria. Incubation 18–20 days, mainly by female, starting with first egg; first and second eggs hatch within hours on same day, third egg c. 19 hours later, fourth 24 hours after third; nestling period 23–24 days.

Not globally threatened. Throughout its vast range, common in suitable habitat by permanent water but often thinly distributed elsewhere. Density around Zaria, N Nigeria, estimated at 580 birds/100 km² in 1970s; extrapolating to all African grassland range would give population of order of 85,000,000. Density in broadleaf woodland at Nylsvlei, Transvaal, of 1 pair/50 ha. Like many small insectivorous birds, this species is adversely affected by insecticide spraying, both aerial and from knapsack, for tsetse-fly control. Present in numerous national parks, e.g. Saloum Delta (Senegal), Dinder (Sudan), Awash (Ethiopia), Rwenzori (Uganda), Nairobi (Kenya), Akagera (Rwanda), Mikumi (Tanzania), South Luangwa (Zambia), Liwonde (Malawi) and Kruger (South Africa).