Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus)
About the Rainbow Bee-eater
The rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus) is a bird species in the bee-eater family Meropidae. The rainbow bee-eater is the only species of bee-eater found in Australia and is monotypic, meaning it has no accepted subspecies. Its closest relative is most likely the olive bee-eater (Merops superciliosus) of southern and eastern Africa, but molecular phylogenetic analysis places the rainbow bee-eater as closest relative with the European bee-eater (M. apiaster). It was first described by John Latham in 1801. The generic name is Ancient Greek merops which means 'bee-eater' and the specific epithet is Latin ornatus 'ornate, adorned'.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 93 recordings for this species: 44 CC BY-NC-SA · 32 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Asian Green Bee-eaterMerops orientalisrecording
- Blue-tailed Bee-eaterMerops philippinusrecording
- Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaterMerops oreobatesrecording
- European Bee-eaterMerops apiasterrecording
- White-throated Bee-eaterMerops albicollisrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.