White-throated Bee-eater

The White-throated Bee-eater is a graceful, aerial insectivore of Africa's semi-arid Sahel and savanna woodlands, easily recognized by its slender build, crisp facial pattern, and long central tail streamers that flutter behind it in flight.

Like other bee-eaters, it hunts flying insects on the wing, sallying from an exposed perch and returning to beat captured prey against the branch before swallowing it, a habit shared across the bee-eater family.

• Body is bright green above with paler green-buff underparts
• Head pattern shows a black mask through the eye, a white forehead band, and a clean white throat bordered below by a black band
• Tail has elongated wire-thin central streamers extending well beyond the rest of the tail, longer and thinner than those of most other bee-eaters
• Wings are green with darker flight feathers, pointed and swept-back in flight silhouette
• Distinguished from the similar Green Bee-eater by its black-and-white throat pattern and longer, finer tail streamers

Adults of both sexes look broadly similar, green overall with the distinctive black-masked, white-throated head pattern, though males typically show slightly longer tail streamers than females. Juveniles are duller green, lacking the crisp white throat and black facial markings, and lack the elongated tail streamers until after their first molt. There is little seasonal plumage change beyond wear reducing the vividness of the green tones.

This species breeds in the Sahel belt of Africa and migrates seasonally into more equatorial savanna and woodland edge habitats, often near rivers or open country with scattered trees for perching. It is a partial migrant, tracking rainfall and insect abundance across its range rather than undertaking a fixed long-distance migration.

White-throated Bee-eaters hunt flying insects, especially bees and wasps, sallying from perches in graceful aerial pursuits and returning to a perch to subdue prey before eating it. They nest colonially, excavating tunnel burrows in sandy banks or flat ground. Calls are soft, rolling, and musical, often given in flight as loose flocks move between feeding areas.