The southern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicoides) is a species of bee-eater found across sub-equatorial Africa. It was formerly considered conspecific with the closely related northern carmine bee-eater, with the combined species then known as carmine bee-eater.
This species, like other bee-eaters, is richly coloured and is predominantly carmine in colouration, but the crown and under-tail are blue.
Its usual habitat included low-altitude river valleys and floodplains, preferring vertical banks suitable for tunnelling when breeding, but readily digging vertical burrows in the level surface of small salt islands. This is a highly sociable species, gathering in large flocks, in or out of breeding season.
Stamps & Postal Products
1970 Decimal Overprints – 10t Carmine Bee-Eater
