From Opus

Merops orientalis

Photo by Scottishdude, aka, Jamie MacArthur.
Photo taken: Goa, India.

[edit] Identification

16-18cm. Green upper parts, but the head and underpart colours vary widely depending on the subspecies. The wings are green and the beak is black. Sexes are alike.

[edit] Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal, The Gambia, Ethiopia, the Nile valley, western Arabia, Asia, India and Vietnam.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• M. o. viridissimus in the savanna of Senegal to Eritrea, Ethiopia and w Sudan
• M. o. flavoviridis in the subdesert steppes of Chad to Red Sea coast of Sudan
• M. o. cleopatra in Nile Valley (Lake Nasser to delta)
• M. o. cyanophrys on the Arabian Peninsula
• M. o. najdanus on the central Arabian plateau
• M. o. beludschicus from the north end of Persian Gulf to Baluchistan and w India
• M. o. orientalis from the Rann of Kutch to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
• M. o. ferrugeiceps from Assam and Myanmar to Vietnam

[edit] Habitat

Open country with bushes.

[edit] Behaviour

Diet includes insects, especially bees, wasps and ants, which are caught in the air. Before eating its meal, a bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface.

Nest are made in a tunnel in sandy banks. 4 to 8 spherical white eggs are laid and incubated by both the male and the female.

[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

• View more images of this species on Orientalbirdimages