CreatureData

Rainbow bee-eater

Merops ornatus Latham, 1801

LCLeast Concernbirds

The rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus) is a species in the family Meropidae, order Coraciiformes. Recorded adults weigh 26.1 g to 29.8 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus)
Photo: PotMart186 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the rainbow bee-eater

Weight
26.1 g – 29.8 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
woodlandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
24 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
4.6 – 4.83src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the rainbow bee-eater live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The rainbow bee-eater is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the rainbow bee-eater?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus) is a bird species in the bee-eater family Meropidae.

From the Wikipedia article “Rainbow bee-eater” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rainbow_bee-eater&oldid=1378766450), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the rainbow bee-eater endangered?

The rainbow bee-eater is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the rainbow bee-eater classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCoraciiformes
  5. familyMeropidae
  6. genusMerops
  7. SpeciesMerops ornatus Latham, 1801

Synonyms Merops lewini, Merops melanurus, Merops ornatus shortridgei, Merops ornatus var. sumbaensis, Merops tenuipennis, Merops tenuirostris, Merops thouini, Merops thouini

Other names and names in other languages (42)
  • RainbowbirdEnglish
  • وروار قوس قزحArabic
  • Göyqurşağı qızlarquşuAzerbaijani
  • Gwespetaer kanevedennBreton
  • abellerol irisatCatalan
  • vlha duhováCzech
  • vlha ozdobnáCzech
  • gwenynysor amryliwWelsh
  • RegnbuebiæderDanish
  • RegenbogenspintGerman
  • ĉielarka abelmanĝuloEsperanto
  • Abejaruco australianoSpanish
  • austraalia mesilasenäppEstonian
  • زنبورخوار آراستهPersian
  • australianmehiläissyöjäFinnish
  • Guêpier arc-en-cielFrench
  • crnorepa pčelaricaCroatian
  • feketefarkú gyurgyalagHungarian
  • Kirik-kirik australiaIndonesian
  • Gruccione iridatoItalian
  • Gruccione ornato australianoItalian
  • ハチクイJapanese
  • dira-yurrunkgs
  • vaivorykštinis bitininkasLithuanian
  • varavīksnes bišķērājsLatvian
  • RegenboogbijeneterDutch
  • RegnbogebietarNorwegian Nynorsk
  • regnbuebieterNorwegian
  • żołna tęczowaPolish
  • ست رنگا مکھی-کھاناWestern Panjabi
  • abelharuco-coloridoPortuguese
  • abelharuco-arco-írisPortuguese
  • abelharuco-australianoPortuguese
  • Радужная щуркаRussian
  • včelárik ozdobnýSlovak
  • avstralski čebelarSlovenian
  • Dugina pčelaricaSerbian
  • regnbågsbiätareSwedish
  • Gökkuşağı ArıkuşuTurkish
  • бджолоїдка райдужнаUkrainian
  • 彩虹蜂虎Chinese
  • 虹彩蜂虎Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the rainbow bee-eater

Other species in the same genus Merops.

CompareRainbow bee-eater vs European bee-eaterRainbow bee-eater vs Asian green bee-eaterRainbow bee-eater vs Blue-cheeked bee-eaterRainbow bee-eater vs Blue-tailed bee-eater

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the rainbow bee-eater?

An adult rainbow bee-eater weighs 26.1 g – 29.8 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the rainbow bee-eater live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the rainbow bee-eater for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the rainbow bee-eater endangered?

The rainbow bee-eater is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the rainbow bee-eater?

The rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus) belongs to the family Meropidae in the order Coraciiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rainbow-bee-eater

MLA

“Rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/rainbow-bee-eater.

BibTeX
@misc{rainbow_bee_eater_2026,
  title = {Rainbow bee-eater (Merops ornatus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rainbow-bee-eater},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}