Paphos Life

Super birds & their contact calling is unmistakable!


Shane

Beautiful... Only trouble is, we also need to look after the bees, as they pollinate all the fruit trees!

Cheers- AL

PaphosAL wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2017 8:30 pm Beautiful... Only trouble is, we also need to look after the bees, as they pollinate all the fruit trees!

Cheers- AL

Sorry Al but there is no scientific evidence that Bee-eaters have a detrimental effect on Bee populations in a given area. In fact a study carried out in Murcia, Spain showed that their effect was "negligible" as the local apiaries produce far more Bees than can be consumed by the birds.

There are 2 other points worth mentioning here as well. Firstly, Bee-eaters don't just each Bees, they eat many types of flying insects including Wasps, Hoverflies, Dragonflies & Damselflies, etc. Secondly, Bees are not the only pollinators of fruit trees, plants & flowers, other insects providing this function include Wasps, Hoverflies, Butterflies, Moths, Flower Beetles, etc.


Shane

However, bees are in the decline, and need our help!

I never tire of watching these beautiful birds.

It was Sunday afternoon for me when I suddenly hear their distinctive, unusual chirp and it was not long before a few appeared on the wires above my garden. Made me very happy as, like Shane, I never tire of them. I try to get some good photos every year (though I haven't managed yet to get a good one of them flying). Here are a few of my favourites.

One day I had the brainwave of heading over to where I knew there was a row of bee hives. Sure enough there were a couple of rows of bee-eaters sitting on the wires above them swooping down. It was amazing to watch - and listen to!

And yes, I did feel very sorry for the bees (I'm the sort of person who rescues all drowning bees/wasps from the pool). I went back the next day. There were no bee-eaters and there were as many bees flying around as ever. You wouldn't have known they'd been a bee-eater buffet the day before.

It doesn't make sense, though, for the beekeepers to place the hives underneath electricity wires. The birds arrive like clockwork every May and September, so this is obviously going to happen when there are wires right above them.

I do agree with protecting bees and that we need to cut down on the pesticides that are killing them.

Colourful little chaps aren't they

I've never seen them during our time in Cyprus but we did once have a huge swarm of bees around our streets for a couple of days when one of our neighbours who backed onto our house brought himself a bee box home. The queen was buzzing around with hundreds of workers following her to the new hive. We had to keep our heads low and an eye on the dogs as one of them was want to chase anything that came within an inch of his snitch nose....

Absolutely mind-blowing stuff! Beautiful pictures, and really intelligent input, thanks!

Cheers- AL

Excellent pics, the first one I like the most. It is very difficult to get them sharply focused as the electric wire is 6 m high and if you come too close they are gone... I tried it many times, no chance.
Max

Thanks for the comments on my photos. I have to admit I'm very happy with them, it took a lot of tries and a lot of luck to get them.

Yes, Max, they're very skittish birds and however slowly and quietly you try and walk nearer they fly off. Strangely they don't mind nearly as much if you're in the car, even with the engine running. If they're along a road you may be able to get closer in a car. Clean the windscreen 1st in case you have to take a shot through the window.

I was very lucky with the 1st pic. This was in my garden when I was sat in the patio, so I could take a few pics without disturbing them. Having a 60x zoom helps.

Happy in Cyprus - I love the swallows too. No idea they ate bees too. I've got a few good pics and couple of videos of the babies in the nests in my patio over the years. Strangely this year I only have 1 nest and my neighbours none (they have 1 sleeping there but it hasn't found a mate). The last couple of years we both had 3 nests.

Thanks for the video of the baby swallow HiC, how did you manage to get that?

Interesting that other people are noticing the lack of swallows this year, I wonder what happened in Africa (or wherever they migrate to) to reduce the numbers?

I'd love to be able to track "my swallows" to see where they migrate to.

Thanks for the follow up HiC - I would have very much enjoyed seeing that video if it had seen the light of day. Hopefully next year they will nest in the right place for you and you can get all the video footage you need.

I got a video last year of one of the babies doing what must have been one of their first flights. I've also got a photo of another 2 just after again what must have been one of their first flights, they have a bit of an apprehensive look on their faces.

I would have been upset if birds of prey ate "my" babies. I know it's nature, but I would have felt so sorry for the parents. It get stressful enough for me as I have 2 cats. The cats can't get near the nests, but I worry (1) about the babies falling out of the nest or sitting on the ground while learning to fly and (2) the cats catching and killing one of the parents while they are still feeding the babies. It doesn't help that the adults start to dive bomb the cats once the babies catch, giving the cats more chance of catching them. But so far, so good....

The article you attached reminded me on the night I had 2 swallows sleeping in my bedroom. I had found 1 flying round the room - the fly screen was closed so one of the cats must have brought it in. I locked the cats up in another room and opened the window wide so it could fly out, but when I went to check I found its mate had joined it and they were both flying round the room. It was getting dark and with the high ceiling, they were flying round too high to find their way out the window. Nothing I tried worked, so I left them too it and slept in the spare room, while they slept on the a/c. I opened the window for them at dawn and when I checked later they were gone, and back to building their nest as though nothing had happened.....

Brilliant stuff, and sincere thanks for posting these beautiful photos, folks!

I recall my nightly drinks at the Wheatsheaf (Happy Pub) in Bar Street, owned by Frixos and his good wife Julie (?). Springtime visits were amazing, to watch the Swallows flying in and out of their mud nests, under the wooden outside awnings, feeding their chicks.

Urban Myth: One Spring evening, a pair of ex-Pats (Les from Manchester and his mate from Wales) were sitting under the outside of the Wheatsheaf awning having a drink, when PLOP, down came a swallow's poo on their table! And the next day (pure fable) they both shared a £500,000 UK Lottery win!

No, I don't believe it, either. But I think Frixos did, as it seemed to to bring more customers in, for a chance of avian 'Good Luck', LOL!

Cheers- AL

Great pics, HiC!

Very interesting to see inside the nest.

I think mine have hatched as there was half an egg shell on the ground the other day, and the parents have increased their dive bombing of the cats, but haven't heard or seen them yet. I look forward to seeing their faces peering out over the top of the nest soon.

Lovely pictures all round. I once had a bird poo on my head. I got fed up with people afterwards telling me it was lucky and that I should place a bet. I wasn't lucky, I was covered in poo!