Bird watching in Indonesia - Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Merops philippinus, นกจาบคาหัวเขียว

Length: 23 – 26 cm, including the two elongated central tail feathers.
Wingspan:
Weight: 29 - 43 g
Longevity:
Distinctive Feature •
Similar Species • From opus at www.birdforum.net the forum for wild birds and birding.
Female / Male / Juvenile • Sexes similar • Juvenile has duller lower throat and lacks tail-streamers From opus at www.birdforum.net the forum for wild birds and birding.

The Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It breeds in southeastern Asia. It is strongly migratory, seen seasonally in much of peninsular India.

This species is sometimes considered to be conspecific with the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, M. persicus.

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green; its face has a narrow blue patch with a black eye stripe, and a yellow and brown throat; the tail is blue and the beak is black. It can reach a length of 23–26 cm, including the two elongated central tail feathers. Sexes are alike.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater nesting site

Hat Chao Samran, Thailand - May 2020

Blue-tailed Bee-eater sitting on top of the nest
The sand pile is from when digging the tunnel

Hat Chao Samran, Thailand - May 2020

This is a bird which breeds in sub-tropical open country, such as farmland, parks or ricefields. It is most often seen near large waterbodies. Like other bee-eaters it predominantly eats insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch.

This species probably takes bees and dragonflies in roughly equal numbers. The insects that are caught are beaten on the perch to kill and break the exoskeleton. This habit is seen in many other members of the coraciiformes order.

Blue-tailed Bee-eater with lunch

Hat Chao Samran, Thailand - May 2020

Blue-tailed Bee-eater with lunch

Kui Buri NP, Thailand - Julu 2020

These bee-eaters are gregarious, nesting colonially in sandy banks or open flat areas. They make a relatively long tunnel in which the 5 to 7 spherical white eggs are laid. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs. These birds also feed and roost communally. The call is similar to that of the European bee-eater.

Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net

www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there

Length: 23 – 26 cm, including the two elongated central tail feathers.

Wingspan:

Weight: 29 - 43 g

Longevity:

Distinctive Feature

•

Similar Species

•

From opus at www.birdforum.net the forum for wild birds and birding.

Female / Male / Juvenile

• Sexes similar
• Juvenile has duller lower throat and lacks tail-streamers

From opus at www.birdforum.net the forum for wild birds and birding.

Juvenile Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Kui Buri NP, Thailand - July 2020

Listen to the Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

www.birdforum.net

Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use) 13th of January 2017
Location: Menjangan, Bali, Indonesia

PLEASE! As I'm a first time birdwatcher bear in mind that some of the bird can be wrongly named. I have bought books and I confirm on the internet to get the right identity on the birds I take pictures off. But there can still be mistakes.

Among others I have used Peter Ericsson's web page Birds of Thailand These galleries contain 668 species of the Birds of Thailand and have been of a great help to identify some of the birds.