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Bee Eaters? (1 Viewer)

J

James22

Well-known member
Hi there,

Yesterday I had 10 minutes to mess about before work and as it was sunny decided to go a walk. I was just on the outskirts of Edinburgh in a reasonably rural area. I noticed 2 birds gliding about in the air. If I had been in Southern Europe I would have put them down as Bee eaters without a second thought due to their jizz and they way in which they were flying. However being in Edinburgh I considered this not enough. Unfortunately I had no binoculars with me and the sun made it impossible to see any colour on them even though I watched them for at least five minutes also they didnt make any calls which was very unfortunate and in my experience quite unbee eater like.

Went into work early today and took an hour for lunch also in the hope of relocating them but to no avail.

Is it likely/unlikely these were bee eaters? Can anyone think of any commoner British species that behave like and look like bee eaters obviously without the colour? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks James.
 
well, odd as it may seem .. I've heard of Ring-necked Parakeet being mistaken for them and will say that RNP's at this time of the year (particularly) get up to some quite surprising aerial antics, short-glides, incredibly speedy chases and on occasion get to heights you may not expect for a parakeet ... now, having said that, RNP's are amazingly vocal in flight (and identifiably so) and are probably rarer in your neck of the woods than Bee-eaters!
 
Hi James,
From previous experience I usually hear European Bee-eaters well before I see them. Once (couple of years back) I saw an 'archeology' TV show from Gloucester in the UK and could hear them on that! Would have been interested to know if there had been sightings at the time of filming.
Tom
 
just back from romania where it's full of bee-eaters usually, the mass of them still hasn't arrived due to cold, rainy wheather; calls: usually they call, but i've encountered cases with a few ind. not calling at all for as much as 5 min. still this is unusal. more than the voices i'd go for the unmistakeble flight pattern (gliding, flattering etc.), wings pointed, but broad at base and longish tail.
cheers,
 
As odd as it might sound, I've noticed fly-hawking starlings looking very bee-eater like at a distance now and again. The flight pattern when fly-catching can be remarkably similar, and they're about the same size. Much more likely in Edinburgh too....
 
Various places I think. Duddingston and Cramond are a couple of places I remember them being reported. Not seen them myself.
 
lou salomon said:
just back from romania where it's full of bee-eaters usually, the mass of them still hasn't arrived due to cold, rainy wheather; calls: usually they call, but i've encountered cases with a few ind. not calling at all for as much as 5 min. still this is unusal. more than the voices i'd go for the unmistakeble flight pattern (gliding, flattering etc.), wings pointed, but broad at base and longish tail.
cheers,
Click to expand...
Yes Lou,
Only a few individuals here as yet,a bit late this year.
 
hi bob,
so how's wheather in western turkey this year? red backed shrike hardly arrived, no single barred warbler etc. we had moderate to strong NE winds in the dobrogea from may 1.-5. stopping migration to almost zero. and i thought something similar must have been going on in turkey too. (sorry for hijacking this thread).
cheers,
 
lou salomon said:
hi bob,
so how's wheather in western turkey this year? red backed shrike hardly arrived, no single barred warbler etc. we had moderate to strong NE winds in the dobrogea from may 1.-5. stopping migration to almost zero. and i thought something similar must have been going on in turkey too. (sorry for hijacking this thread).
cheers,
Click to expand...
Yes Lou,
Slower this spring,Golden orioles arriving in small groups ,spf,rbs,wcs,ms the same,waders seem to be on track though(strange)Black headed and Cretzschmars buntings also thin on the ground,waiting to see my first Roller,the weather is settling southerly breezes and about 76f at the moment with forecast getting even better so fingers crossed for the coming weeks
 
Hi again,

Thanks for the input everyone. I have observed rnp's in the wild in Amsterdam and it certainly wasn't them. It's funny starlings were mentioned as I noticed a number of them gliding about rather bee eater like today but the shape was all wrong for starling.

I spent another 2 hours out serching today to no avail.

I've decided that as unusual as it would be I did indeed see 2 bee eaters. I won't bother reporting it though as I doubt without pictures my description would be accepted.

For those interested this happened in the Herriot Watt research park across from the University. In Riccarton.

Thanks again James.
 
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