---
title: "European Bee-eater"
description: "Merops apiaster — Birds. The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a bird species in the bee-eater family, Meropidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/european-bee-eater
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# European Bee-eater

> Merops apiaster — Birds. The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a bird species in the bee-eater family, Meropidae.

- Scientific name: *Merops apiaster*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 37745
- Wikidata: [Q170718](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170718)
- iNaturalist taxon: [2191](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/2191)

## Names

- en: European Bee-eater
- de: Bienenfresser
- es: Abejaruco Europeo
- fr: Guêpier d'Europe
- nl: Bijeneter
- pt: Abelharuco-comum
- pl: Żołna zwyczajna

## Countries with the most observations

RU (6648), ES (4933), IT (3860), FR (3220), DE (1907), ZA (1562), PT (1398), UA (1183), AT (1027), GR (844), RO (664), HU (567)

## Summary

The European bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is a bird species in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. It has the largest range of any bee-eater species. It breeds in southern and central Europe, northern and southern Africa, and western Asia. Except for the resident southern African population, the species is strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa. This species occurs as a spring overshoot north of its usual range, with occasional breeding in northern Europe.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bee-eater

## Photo

![European Bee-eater](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/european-bee-eater/medium.jpg)

Photo: Dario Taraborelli · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175093548

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/european-bee-eater?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).