Migratory Birds African Bee-Eaters Back in Norfolk to Nest, Experts Mark First Two-Year Streak

Several bee-eaters, migratory birds from Africa, were once again spotted in Norfolk to nest. According to experts, this first two-year streak could both be delightful and dreadful, considering the implications regarding climate change.

Migratory Birds African Bee-Eaters

With plumage in cherry red, ultramarine, turquoise, and yellow, they appear as a paragon of tropical splendor, dashing like multicolored darts over the sky of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Spain.

For the second summer in a row, British birdwatchers have seen European bee-eaters soaring and burrowing in an abandoned quarry in Norfolk.

For the first time, bee-eaters have returned to the same nesting place in Britain for a second straight year. The return of the unusual guests, however, has been tempered by a caution that it is a clear indicator of the planet's changing climate.

Bittersweet First Two-Year Streak

According to Mark Thomas of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, bee-eaters have typically appeared in the UK on an ad hoc basis, never utilizing the same nest location twice.

Their reappearance is a stark reminder of the changes brought about by our planet's warming. Bee-eaters are a widespread species in the southern Mediterranean as well as northern Africa, and as the world heats, they and other species are being forced farther north.

The three bee-eaters, which included a nesting couple, were discovered in a sand quarry near Cromer, in north Norfolk. Observers believe that others will soon join them. Last year, eight bee-eaters settled in the same area, where the birds hatched and fledged offspring before heading south.

Formerly very uncommon breeders in the UK, this year represents the seventh breeding effort in England in the last 20 years, implying they are seeking to establish a recurring breeding colony in the UK, a clear consequence of climate change, according to scientists.

They eat dragonflies along with other flying insects that they seize in mid-air, in addition to bees.

The birds are likely to stay in the same area until summer ends before flying to southern Africa for the winter, The Guardian reports.

Climate Migration

Climate migration happens when people flee their homes as a result of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, heat waves, and wildfires, as well as slower-moving climate concerns such as rising sea levels and increasing water stress. This type of migration is becoming more common since the globe has failed to control greenhouse gas emissions and prevent global average temperature rise, resulting in more climatic calamities.

The majority of climate migration will occur within a country's boundaries, although migration across borders will also increase. Extremes, along with other reasons like natural subsidence and oil and gas activity, are displacing entire villages in certain cases, forcing them to seek refuge in distant areas of their nation or cross borders, according to Council on Foreign Relations.

According to Smirnov and his colleagues' 2022 analysis published in Sage Journals, if worldwide efforts to solve the increasing climate problem fail, drought-driven migration might quadruple this century.