From Opus

Merops pusillus

Photo by wim de groot
Location: The Gambia

[edit] Identification

16 cm. Green upper parts, yellow throat, black gorget, and rich brown upper breast fading ochre on the belly. The wings are green and brown, and the beak is black. Sexes are alike.

[edit] Distribution

Africa

[edit] Taxonomy

Merops pusillus has five subspecies:^[1]

• M. p. pusillus

• Savannas from Senegambia to Cameroon, Sudan and north-eastern DRC

• M. p. ocularis

• Eastern DRC to northern Uganda, southern Sudan and Red Sea coast

• M. p. cyanostictus

• Eastern Ethiopia to Somalia and eastern Kenya

• M. p. meridionalis

• Congo basin to eastern DRC, Uganda and western Kenya south to KwaZulu-Natal

• M. p. argutus

• South-western Angola to south-western Zambia and Botswana

[edit] Habitat

Open country with scattered trees and bushes.

[edit] Behaviour

Diet includes insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch; the sting is removed by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface.

A nest is made by making a tunnel in sandy banks, or sometimes in the entrance to an Aardvark den. They lay 4 to 6 spherical white eggs. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

[edit] External Links