Bee- eaters

[wanderer]

Spotted the past two days in the skies to the east of Kyrenia
You will hear them before you see them as they have a very unusual call
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bee-eater

[Becker]

Seen lots over Alsancak.They are here in May,go somewhere to nest & return for a couple weeks late Aug to around now.Beautiful birds.

[Groucho]

You will hear them before you see them as they have a very unusual call

Like the squeaking of a finger on a wet pane of glass is how it is often described... one of the great delights of Cyprus now being found as far north as the Isle of Wight!

[dippersgirl]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 407645e544

Lovely photo taken by my friend Brian in the Karpaz

[Art]

Flying above our property today in a Esentepe.

Beautiful birds.

[Owl Lady]

Also in Ozankoy below Bellapais. will gather and migrate within a few days to a week!!

[frontalman]

One of the delights of living here!

[northerngirl]

We live near done bee hives. You can imagine the fun they having here! The ground and sky is full of them!

[Soner]

Send some over to Gecitkale, my neighbour has hives in his garden.

[northerngirl]

Bee eaters arrived here yesterday, brilliant

[Groucho]

Bee eaters arrived here yesterday, brilliant

Yeah they are mostly a bit late this year but the large flocks are stopping over now.... the weather pattern has been out of kilter this year so no surprise that the migrating birds' pattern has changed.

Look out for Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters - not quite as colourful as the European or Common Bee-eater but rarer here and really very pretty in a more subtle way... we saw them at the Karpaz 3rd May and they were my first sighting in 10 years here.

[northerngirl]

Great will do, we have done a big bird bath about 3m dia hoping to get them here as they sit on the telephone wire neat it

[Groucho]

Great will do, we have done a big bird bath about 3m dia hoping to get them here as they sit on the telephone wire neat it

Never seen them dipping for water - I'm guessing the fluids in their diet come from insects.... you will get other birds drinking so it's a very good idea for encouraging birdlife into your garden - you might also see the odd lizard but do make sure the mozzies don't use it for laying eggs or you'll be plagued.

[Sukicat]

Always get them here near my house in Zeytinlik. They arrived at least 2 weeks ago and last week had a flock of 12-15 circling round high over the garden.

[effonine]

Got back home in the UK yesterday but noticed a big influx of Bee Eaters over the last few days. Bee Eaters typically arrive in small numbers in the first week of April peaking in the first two weeks of May (which always coincides with our Spring visit), by the end of May numbers will be down to a trickle, any seen in June could be considered to be some of the very small numbers that stay in Cyprus to breed. Return migrants peak in the last two weeks of September (which always coincides with our Autumn visit!).
There is a rumour locally that last years breeding Bee Eaters on the Isle of Wight may have been aviary escapes but this is unsubstantiated and there were no obvious clues that these may have been captive birds, personally I believe these were genuine migrants.
My photo of one of the BC Bee Eaters at the Karpaz here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/itchenbirds/16908722844
looks very similar to Gavins, that's because I was stood next him at the time! They are scarce migrants, there were only 17 island records in 2012 (sorry don't have any more up to date data).
I think Bee Eaters will drink from open water, late last week I was (unsuccesfully) trying to get photo's of Swallows hitting the water of a swimming pool when a fly over group of Bee Eaters arrived and several of them came down and scooped at the water for about 30 seconds - I couldn't get onto them before they disappeared as quickly as they'd arrived. I have in my mind a perfect picture of a Swallow hitting the water (they actually almost submerge themselves) frozen for a split moment in a spray of water, these are the closest I got (which aren't really very close at all).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/itchenbirds/17531132681
https://www.flickr.com/photos/itchenbirds/17531134881
Cheers
Colin

[effonine]

One of the Bee eaters at Tatlisu Saturday, happy with the action just wished it was a little sharper.

[Groucho]

They could have been fishing insects off the water's surface? My neighbour has regular large flocks (c50) sitting on a wire right above their pool and they are not seem scooping water.... maybe as it's an overflow pool no insects to tempt them? Just a thought. I got a shot of a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater gagging on its prey - I was most surprised by the ugly sound it made as it ejected the bee....

[wanderer]

A month or so I switched on TV and there was a programme on Africa
In East Africa The bee eaters specialised in bush fires flying into the edges of the fires and eating the insect as they tried to escape

[northerngirl]

No problem with mozzies got toad tadpoles and they eating them. Also got mosquetio dunks from UK, soon gets rid of them!

[Groucho]

No problem with mozzies got toad tadpoles and they eating them. Also got mosquito dunks from UK, soon gets rid of them!

Do tell us about the mosquito dunks - they sound interesting... never heard of them but if they help those who suffer then they can't be bad.

[jofra]

By the looks of this, they kill off the larvae - more prevention than cure, but if the end result is no more (or at least less) mozzies, who cares?

[JBA]

I have just had a hoopoe on the patio in Karsiyaka. I have seen them before at the same time as the bee-eaters arrive but not every year. I was gone before I could get the camera so I attach an internet photo for those who might not know this beautiful bird.