- Merops philippinus
Merops superciliosus
Identification
28–30 cm (11-11¾ in); plus 7cm tail streamers
- Green plumage
- Narrow blue patch on face
- Black eye stripe
- Yellow and brown throat
- Black bill
- Blue tail; 2 elongated central tail feathers
Sexes similar
Distribution
Sri Lanka, India to southern China, south-eastern Asia, New Guinea and Indonesia
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Open country usually associated with water, along rivers, marshes and ricefields.
Behaviour
These birds can be found feeding and roosting communally.
Vocalisation
Recording © by Alok Tewari
Regularly present at Keoladeo National Park during monsoon months; seen hawking insects, flying and calling.
Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India, 29 July 2024 ... 3.20 pm.
Diet
The diet consists of honey bees, wasps and hornets and a variety of other bugs and beetles.
Breeding
Colonial breeders. The nests are at the end of a longish tunnel in a sandy bank. The clutch consists of 5-7 spherical white eggs which are incubated by both adults.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Fry, H. & Boesman, P. (2019). Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/55846 on 9 November 2019).
- BirdForum Member observations
- Fry, C.F., Fry, K. and Harris, A. (1991). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters, and Rollers. Princeton University Press
- Gregory, P. (2017) Birds of New Guinea, Including Bismarck Archipelago and Boughainville. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blue-tailed Bee-eater. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 October 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-tailed_Bee-eater
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
