The diet of the European Bee-eater <i>(Merops apiaster)</i> in Višnjička Kosa, Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract We examined the diet of the European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) within a suburban colony in Belgrade (Serbia). From 68 pellets, we identified 1236 prey individuals. The predominant prey was the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) , representing 59.0% of all extracted prey individuals, followed by ants (11.4%), bumble bees ( Bombus spp.) (9.3%), other bees (8.6%), diverse other hymenopteran taxa (5.3%), coleopterans (3.4%), and dragonflies (1.5%). Honey bees and other bee taxa were present in the diet of bee-eaters significantly more in May than in June, while the opposite was true for other prey categories. This diet composition may be a result of local prey availability and the selective choice of prey categories during the chick provisioning period.