Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species has an extremely large range and the population size is extremely large, hence does not approach threatened thresholds for the range or population size criteria. The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion. For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Population justification
In Europe, the total population size is estimated at 7,370,000-11,200,000 mature individuals, with 3,680,000-5,600,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2021), and comprises approximately 40% of the species' global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is between 18,400,000-28,000,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is desirable. In Europe, the species' population is considered to have remained relatively stable over three generations (10 years) (BirdLife International 2021). Declines may be occurring in some parts of the range owing to loss of suitable prey due to widespread application of pesticides, loss of nesting sites through canalisation of rivers, increasing agricultural efficiency and establishment of monocultures, development of wilderness areas and shooting for sport, for food and because it is considered a crop pest (Fry and Boesman 2014). However, based on the data from Europe, and the proportion of the species' global range that this region holds, the global population size is considered likely to be stable over three generations.
Trend justification
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In Europe, this species inhabits broad river valleys, pasture and cultivated land with shelter-belts and scattered trees; sunny hillsides, meadows, clover fields, plains, dissected steppe, shrubby riverbanks in semi-desert, and practically any open and well-timbered country, such as cork-oak woods, olive groves, tamarisks, rice fields, cereal and root crops, and Mediterranean macchia scrub. In Africa the species also uses savanna, lakeshores and farmland. Egg-laying is from May to June, in Europe and clutches can be from four to ten eggs. The nest is a burrow, which is occasionally excavated in flat or sloping sandy ground but more often in an earthen cliff (Fry and Boesman 2014). It feeds on flying insects, primarily Hymenoptera, and it hunts from perches. The species is migratory and winters almost entirely within Africa (Snow and Perrins 1998).
In the past the species has been killed as an apiary pest in Moldova, Hungary, Russia and Azerbaijan but present attitudes are unknown. Large numbers are shot in Malta and Cyprus each year (Tucker and Heath 1994). In the long term, greater threats are likely to be depression of insect faunas by the wide scale application of pesticides on the breeding and wintering grounds, increases in large-scale crop monoculture, the canalization of rivers resulting in the loss of riverbank nesting sites, and the development of wilderness land (Fry and Boesman 2014).
Conservation Actions Underway
CMS Appendix II. Bern Convention Appendix II. There are currently no known, specific conservation measures for this species within Europe.
Conservation Actions Proposed
Food availability may be difficult to increase and may not be the limiting factor of bee-eater populations in any case; this may be nest-site availability. If so the provision of small sand cliffs free of vegetation, erosion and interference would be beneficial for this species. The implementation and enforcement of legislation could reduce the number of birds shot in Malta, Cyprus and other counties with high levels of hunting (Tucker and Heath 1994). Research should be undertaken to identify the limiting factors of this species to help inform future conservation measures.
Text account compilers
Rutherford, C.A., Martin, R.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: European Bee-eater Merops apiaster. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/european-bee-eater-merops-apiaster on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.