2010/05/04

The Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus) or Regenbogenspint

Rainbow bee-eaters are brilliantly coloured birds that mostly eat flying insects, but, as their name implies, they have a real taste for bees. They can eat several hundred bees a day, hence are not very popular with beekeepers, but the supposed damage is generally balanced by their role in keeping pest insects such as locusts, hornets and wasps under control. It’s a shame that they are becoming increasingly rare in suburban gardens, because the family Schmitz needs a couple of these feathered pest controllers because of the increasing damage done to our rooftop garden. Unfortunately Suki the cat is of no use at all regards exterminating vermin, quite the contrary she joins the insects and snails nibbling on the plants, especially the Kangaroo paws is her favourite scrub. In addition she’s pretty good in decimating the lizard population, who feed on insects and are very important to keep the balance in our little biotope intact. Mrs. Schmitz is very unhappy about the gain in bug numbers, especially the increasing encounters with big cockroaches. Another resident of our plants and pots are the huntsmen, big but harmless spiders that can grow as big as a palm of the hand. They would help fighting the vermin as insects are their preferred prey but unfortunately they are out-of-favour with Mrs. Schmitz as well and I have to remove them when sighted. With sustainable and biologically correct options running out Mrs. Schmitz relies solely on chemical weapons especially massive spray cans that are surprisingly inefficient. The only other way to get rid of cockroaches is to kill them manually, an unpleasant job that is of course delegated to me, as long as we don’t get some of the lovely bee-eaters to take over.

Next week: The Purple Swamphen or the bully of the wetlands.