Bee-eating birds: climate change is the cause of their arrival

They are mostly found in Southern Europe and North Africa, but now more and more bee-eating birds have been observed in England. This is a symptom of the worrying climate change of the planet. It would be normal if we were in their usual habitat, but in England it is not easy to meet similar species. They are beautiful specimens that can now live in places that were previously climatically impossible for them. In addition, they feed on bees.

The RSPB, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, explained that bee-eaters have built nests in a quarry in Trimingham, Norfolk.

While it’s an incredible sight, let’s not forget that the arrival of these birds to our shores is due to changes in our climate and the subsequent pressures on wildlife being pushed north by climate change, these exotic birds. are likely to become regular summer visitors in the future. , a first and unmissable sign in the past two decades that the emergency of nature and climate has reached our shores.

Mark Thomas, RSPB expert

The first sighting of bee-eating birds in England dates from 2017. Their species is part of the non-passerine group of the family Meropidae They can be recognized by their red back, yellow throat and blue belly. That is why they are also called rainbow birds.

Their diet is based on bees, as well as dragonflies and flying insects, caught in the air. The RSPB assures that there is no danger to local bees as bee-eating birds are an alien species and all the consequences of their adaptation to the unusual new cannot be predicted. habitat