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Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Merops persicus

Identify the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater is a sleek, green bee-eater with blue cheeks, a black eye stripe, a chestnut throat and long central tail streamers. It breeds from North Africa and the Middle East east to Kazakhstan and north-west India and winters in tropical Africa. Agile on the wing, it hawks insects over open, dry country and is a rare vagrant north of its range.

Did you know?

  • Despite its family name, it often catches more dragonflies than bees.
  • Its nest tunnels can be up to 3 metres long.

About the species

Identification

A medium-sized, mainly green bee-eater with blue cheeks, an orange-chestnut throat and a black, white-bordered eye stripe. The bill is black, and the two central tail feathers extend into long streamers. The sexes look alike; young birds are duller. It is most likely confused with European Bee-eater, which is more colourful; the Blue-cheeked's uniform green and blue cheeks separate them.

Family

Meropidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

green, yellow, blue, brown

About the habitat

Semi-desert with scattered trees such as acacias, sandy riverbanks, embankments and low cliffs; in winter open woodland and grassland in Africa.

Diet

Flying insects, often dragonflies more than bees, as well as bees, wasps, hornets and damselflies, caught from exposed perches such as wires.

Behaviour

Strongly migratory, travelling in small groups. It nests singly or in loose colonies, digging tunnels up to 3 m long in sandy banks, sometimes alongside European Bee-eaters; the female lays 4–8 eggs, and both adults incubate. Its call is flatter and less fluty than the European Bee-eater's.

Sources

Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue-cheeked bee-eater (Merops persicus persicus) Namibia.jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English) + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-cheeked_bee-eater

See also