Conservation status: LEAST CONCERN
Common name: Blue-throated bee-eater
Scientific name: Merops viridis
Type: Bird
Diet: insects
Length: 21 – 23·5 cm
Weight: 34 – 41 g
This bee-eater is about 10½ to 11 inches long, including its long streaming tail streamers that can be 2-3 inches long. It is distinguished from other bee-eaters by its chocolate head, nape and upper back and its blue throat. Both sexes are similar in coloration, while juveniles are duller, have a green instead of chocolate head, blue throat, and no central elongated feathers.
Found in East and Southeast Asia, this species is unique in that it breeds in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula but winters in Indonesia. It inhabits lowland and mangrove forests, open habitats, marshes, beach scrub, gardens, and even urban areas.
References:
- BirdLife International (2012). “Merops viridis“. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2.
- Wells, D. R. (c1999). The birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: Covering Burma and Thailand south of the eleventh parallel, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore: Vol. 1, Non-passerines.
- http://www.robinsonlibrary.com, malaysianwildlifephotography
Animals in South-East Asia 