Definition, Survey, Monitoring and Efficiency of Directions of Bird-Trapping Nets for Trapping the Bee-eating Birds (Merops: Meropidae) Attacking Honey Bee Colonies

Experiment w as carried out during 2009 and 2010 in tw o honey bee apiaries belong to Agricultural Extension Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The results showed that there were three species of bee-eaters belonging to family (Meropidae) in the considered location, European bee-eater (Merops apiaster Linnaeus, 1758); Olive bee-eater (Merops superciliosus Linnaeus, 1766) and Green beeeater (Meropa orientalis Latham, 1802). The three species recorded were migratory and they were found in the apiaries during two seasons (spring and autumn). In spring, they were f irst appearance in the bird-trapping nets on March 28, 2009, and on April 02, 2010, meanw hile, they were last time in the bird-trapping nets on May 01, 2009 and April 20, 2010. In autumn season, they appeared in the considered apiaries on September 23, 2009 and October 11, 2010, meanw hile, the last time they were appeared in the apiaries on November 04, 2009 and November 01, 2010. Results suggest that the direction of bird-trapping nets signif icantly affected the number of trapped bee-eaters, the placing of bird-trapping nets in the east side of the apiary and above the apiary led to a signif icant trapping of more of bee-eaters than when placed in west, north and south directions. In addition, no signif icant difference was found in trapped bee-eaters during the two inspection periods, in the morning (9 am) and in the evening (5 pm). Key wordsHoney bees, Apis mellifera, bee-eating birds, Merops, Merobidae, European bee-eater (Merops apiaster), Olive bee-eater (Merops superciliosus), Green bee-eater (Merops orientalis), definition, survey, monitoring, bird-trapping nets. ——————————  ——————————