European bee-eater

Merops apiaster Today, 3 October

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

now away for the winter 198 days

away for the winter Bird summer visitor

The whole year

20 September – 19 April

the coastal calendar, unshifted

Sitting the year outGetting readyYoung aboutYoung leaving

Where to look

Sand and loess banks, quarry faces and river cuttings; heard overhead before seen.

Worth knowing

Nests in a metre-long tunnel dug by the pair, and the colony returns to the same bank year after year — which is why a single afternoon of quarry work in May can end fifty pairs at once.

Look it up

photos, sightings and recordings, off this site

iNaturalist — photos and where people are seeing it Wikipedia — Merops apiaster xeno-canto — recordings of the call

Regions

where this species is on the list

Dalmatian coastKvarner and IstriaVelebit and the DinaridesSlavonia and the Pannonian plainTukhlia, Ukrainian Carpathians

Phase by phase

dates as they fall in the region chosen above

Phase	When	Length	What it means
away for the winter	20 September – 19 April	212 days	Not here at all. The birds are on the wintering grounds, thousands of kilometres south.
arriving	20 April – 4 May	15 days	Returning from the wintering grounds; the first birds are ahead of the peak.
building	5 May – 24 May	20 days	Nest, burrow or den under construction, or being lined out.
on eggs	25 May – 14 June	21 days	Clutch laid and being incubated, or buried and left to the sun.
raising young	15 June – 14 July	30 days	Dependent young in the nest, den or burrow, being fed.
young have left	15 July – 24 August	41 days	Young out of the nest or den, but still fed and followed by the adults.
leaving	25 August – 19 September	26 days	Leaving for the wintering grounds; stragglers run weeks behind.

Other birds in this region

Barn swallowBlue rock thrushCommon cuckooCommon nightingaleCommon ravenCommon swiftEurasian scops owlEuropean robinGreat spotted woodpeckerGreat titHoopoeSardinian warblerTawny owlYellow-legged gull

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