Where can I find
Black Bee-eater in Uganda?
Uganda is the east end of their habitat.
The bird is usually found in the canopy.
You could see them constantly wagging tails.
Press "read more" for the full Script of the program
NFA bird Podcast: I am Johnnie Kamugisha.
The
bird for today is a Black bee-eater.
It is black with a scarlet chin and throat,
streaked breast, with blue belly, under tail-coverts and rump and rufous
primaries.
Just like their name suggests, bee-eaters
predominantly eat bees though they go for other flying insects like wasps.
They are clever birds that they first remove
the stinger before the eat the insect by rubbing the insect on a hard surface.
Bee-eaters form colonies by nesting in burrows
tunnelled into the side of sandy banks, like if you go to Murchison falls, you
will see at Namusika falls lots of red throated bee eater nesting there, but
the Black bee-eaters tend to nest on road side banks because they are forest
species and so it is not easy or they may not find sandy banks and so they head
for the road side banks to tunnels and build the nest there.
Their feet have sharp claws used for perching
on vertical surfaces and during nest excavation.
Just like the other Bee-eaters, all they need
is simply an elevated perch from which to watch for prey and a ground substrate
in which to dig their breeding burrow.
Because their prey is entirely caught on the
wing they are not dependent on any vegetation type apart from sitting to feed.
It is 20cm long from the beak to tail.
In Uganda they can be find in Bwindi forest,
Kibale forest, Semuliki forest, maramagambo forest among others.
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