Habitat
Temperate forest, grassland and shrubland, subtropical and tropical lowland dry grassland and shrubland, dry savanna, inland wetlands, pasturelands, plantations. From sea-level - 2,400 m.
North-western Africa (Morocco east to Libya) and south-western Europe (Iberia) east to western Russia and central and south-western Asia (east to L Balkhash and L Zaysan in Kazakhstan), south to Afghanistan and Oman; also southern Namibia and South Africa. Winters at lower latitudes in tropical Africa.
 
Population
Estimated population is 3,000,000 - 10,000,000 (2010).
Food
Exclusively flying insects, including bees and wasps, ants, flies, beetles, butterflies and moths. The sting of bees and wasps is removed before being eaten.
European Bee-eater (Merops) [XC373123]
by Nelson Concei\u00e7\u00e3o from Montaud, H\u00e9rault, Occitanie, France (call, call from a perch)
European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) [XC669935]
by Nelson Concei\u00e7\u00e3o from Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald (near Ihringen), Freiburg, Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, Poland (flight call)
Nest
At the end of a tunnel excavated in a bank of a river or such.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7