Green Bee-eater

Latin Name:

Merops orientalis

Category:

Size:

21cm

Description:

Sexes alike. Bright green plumage; red-brown wash about head; pale blue on chin and throat, bordered below by black gorget; slender, curved black beak; rufous wash on black-tipped flight feathers; elongated central tail feathers distinctive. Small parties; perches freely on bare branches and overhead telegraph
wires; attends to grazing cattle, along with drongos, cattle egrets and mynas; also seen in city parks and garden; launches graceful sorties after winged insects; batters prey against perch before swallowing.

Habitat:

open country and cultivation; light forests.

Food:

mostly winged insects; confirmed nuisance to the honey industry.

Distribution:

subcontinent, south of about 1,800m in outer Himalaya.

The Green Bee-eater is a common and wide-spread breeding summer visitor to our area.

Green Bee-eaters are birds of open country, scrub and woodland and also occur in cultivation, parks and large gardens. However they are most numerous in the vicinity of wetlands as it is here they find most prey, notably dragon-flies. They are one of the most familiar birds perching on overhead wires and are likely to be seen on any road trip.

They usually sally forth after flying insects from wires, bare tree branches and other vantage points. After catching insects in flight, they will often return to their perch, whereon they hit their prey several times before swallowing it. Unlike other bee-eaters they usually nest singly or in very scattered, small colonies. To nest, they tunnel deeply into a sand bank or even level sandy ground where there are no banks available. The dirt tracks along canals are favoured as they are close to a good prey source.

Breeding begins in March and is completed by the onset of the monsoon as their nest sites are very vulnerable to flooding. After breeding, and until departure, quite large parties gather to feed on the surge in flying insects in the post-monsoon period.