Comment on ‘Brood of the bee-eater, Merops apiaster, 1964 in Schleswig-Holstein’ (Corax 1, vol. 2, 1965)

Abstract

Since L. BAUM & E. JAHN in their report on breeding cases in the ‘neighbourhood’ or outside the usual distribution area only mention those from Denmark, Great Britain, Belgium, France and Germany, it should be emphasised that such cases have also recently become known in the Netherlands, both in the same year 1964 and in 1965. According to W. DE JONG (in: ‘Vanellus’ Vol. 18, No. 9, pp. 190-191, Sept. 1965), the first Dutch breeding record was made in 1964 in the southern part of the country. On 27 June 1965, four bee-eaters were spotted for the first time on Terschelling, followed by another six on 10 July and then fairly regularly in the western part of the island, e.g. 13 specimens on 31 July. A nest was also found, about 35 cm above the ground. Subsequently, an adult bird was observed carrying food and, at the entrance to the nest cavity, handing it over to its partner, and the vocalisations of the young could be clearly heard. It is also noteworthy here, as BAUM & JAHN already emphasised in relation to broods in Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, etc., that the bee-eaters nesting this far north arrived very late compared to normal data.