Though still common in Bangladesh, green bee-eaters depend on insect-rich open habitats and nesting banks that may be disrupted by heat extremes and heavier rainfall.
The green bee-eater, a familiar flash of emerald across Bangladesh’s fields, wetlands and village landscapes, may be increasingly exposed to climate-related pressures as rising temperatures and shifting rainfall alter the insects, nesting sites and daily conditions on which the bird depends.
Known scientifically as Merops orientalis, the small insect-eating bird is widely distributed across Bangladesh. The country’s Red List assessment describes it as a common resident found in cultivated land, grazing areas, coasts, hill forests and other open habitats. It hunts flying insects including bees, ants, dragonflies, moths and butterflies. The assessment classifies the species as Least Concern, although its population trend in Bangladesh is listed as unknown.
That relatively secure conservation status does not make the bird immune to a warming climate.
A study of green bee-eaters in Tamil Nadu, India, found that their population density varied with vegetation structure, insect availability, climatic conditions and human disturbance. Riverbanks supported the highest density among the habitats studied, highlighting how strongly the species can depend on local environmental conditions.
Climate change can disturb those conditions in several ways. Extreme heat forces birds to devote more energy to cooling and can reduce the time available for feeding and breeding.
A major study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution in 2025 found that intensifying heat extremes linked to human-driven climate change had reduced the abundance of tropical birds by an estimated 25 to 38 percent between 1950 and 2020 compared with a world without those added heat extremes. The research did not assess green bee-eaters separately, but it points to the growing pressure extreme temperatures are placing on tropical bird communities.
Food availability is another concern. Green bee-eaters capture insects in flight, making them dependent on healthy insect populations. Changes in temperature and rainfall can alter when insects emerge, how abundant they are and where they occur.
Research on tropical insect-eating birds has found that rainfall can influence insect-based food webs and the timing of breeding. Recent research from the eastern Himalaya has also warned that climate-driven changes in arthropod abundance could leave insect-eating birds arriving or breeding when less food is available.
Rainfall extremes may create another risk because green bee-eaters excavate nesting tunnels in sandy or earthen banks. Heavy downpours and flooding can erode such exposed nesting habitat or make suitable sites harder to find. The IPCC says heavy precipitation is expected to become more intense and frequent across most of Asia as global temperatures rise.
For Bangladesh, the green bee-eater remains widespread, often seen perched on electric wires, branches and field edges before darting into the air after insects. But its dependence on flying prey, open landscapes and suitable nesting banks means climate change can add pressure long before the species becomes formally threatened.
Protecting insect-rich habitats, conserving natural riverbanks, limiting unnecessary pesticide use and monitoring breeding populations during heatwaves and extreme rainfall could help detect changes early.
The green bee-eater may still be common, but surviving a rapidly changing climate will depend increasingly on whether the landscapes around it continue to provide enough food, safe nesting grounds and refuge from intensifying heat.
The following video is in Bangla :
