Blue-moustached Bee-eater by David Hoddinott (Merops mentalis)

The Blue-moustached Bee-eater is a fairly recent split from the Blue-headed Bee-eater, and is found in West Africa from Mali and Sierra Leone through to west Cameroon. A rather unusual species, it prefers rainforests as opposed to the more open habitats favoured by most other bee-eaters, and is usually seen singly or in pairs hawking insects from some exposed perch deep within the forest or at the edge of some clearing. David Hoddinott photographed this bird in Ghanas magnificent Atewa Forest, a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) and Important Bird Area (IBA) that is sadly under increasing threat due to illegal logging and, worse yet, the possibility of being mined for its bauxite deposits.