Blue-cheeked Bee-eater - BirdForum Opus

Photo by MikeB
Location: Cuango valley, northern Angola, March 2005

Merops persicus

Identification

24-26 cm. Green, blue sides to face, black eye stripe, yellow and brown throat, black bill, two elongated central tail feathers.
Sexes alike.

Similar Species

Similar to Blue-tailed Bee-eater but note blue supercilium. Distinctly larger than Little Green Bee-eater.

Photo by Samir Mehta
Uran, Maharashtra, India; November 01, 2009

Distribution

Morocco, Algeria, eastern Turkey to Kazakhstan; winters in tropical Africa.

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

There are 2 subspecies:

• M. p. chrysocercus

• North-western Africa (south of the Atlas Mountains); Senegambia to Lake Chad

• M. p. persicus

• Egypt to Lake Balkhash and Hindu Kush; winters to southern Africa

Habitat

Desert oases, coastal mangroves, scrub, reed beds and farmland.

Behaviour

They hawk from exposed perches and overhead power lines.

Diet

The diet includes dragonflies, bees, wasps and hornets.

Breeding

They nest colonially in sandy banks, making a long tunnel. They lay 4-8 spherical white eggs which are incubated by both parents.

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.
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 16 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-cheeked_Bee-eater

External Links

Search for photos of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in the gallery