African Green Bee-eater (Merops viridissimus)
About the African Green Bee-eater
The African green bee-eater (Merops viridissimus) is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. It is found throughout arid Sahel region of Africa from Senegal east to Ethiopia, and has expanded its range north to Egypt over the past few decades. Although initially described as distinct species, the African and Arabian (M. cyanophrys) green bee-eaters were lumped with the Asian green bee-eater (M. orientalis) as the green bee-eater by Sibley and Monroe in 1990. However, in 2014, the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International again split them as distinct species. A 2020 study found significant differences in morphology and voice between all three species, so they were also split from one another by the International Ornithologists' Union in 2021. Three subspecies are currently accepted:
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 8 recordings for this species: 2 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 Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal 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.