Blue-breasted bee-eater facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Blue-breasted bee-eater |
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Merops
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| Species: |
variegatus
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The blue-breasted bee-eater (Merops variegatus) is a colorful bird found in central Africa. It belongs to a bird family called Meropidae, also known as bee-eaters. These birds all look quite similar and mostly eat insects, especially bees and wasps.
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What Does the Blue-Breasted Bee-Eater Look Like?
The blue-breasted bee-eater, Merops variegatus, has many features typical of the bee-eater family. It has a fairly large head and a short neck. Its feathers are very bright. It also has a long, curved, and sharp beak. A wide black stripe runs across its eyes.
This bird weighs between 20 and 26 grams. It is about 18 to 21 centimeters long. Its body is mostly green. The top of its head and its upper parts are green. Its belly and underside are a light greenish-yellow.
The main wing feathers have a reddish-brown tint. The secondary feathers are green with black tips. Its wings are rounded at the ends. This is different from the pointed wings of bee-eaters that migrate. The tail has twelve feathers. The outer tail feathers are reddish-brown. The middle ones are green. The tail has a black bar near the end. It is tipped with white. The tail also has a slight V-shape. It does not have the long streamers seen on some other bee-eaters.
You can tell the blue-breasted bee-eater's head apart from other bee-eaters. It has a blue stripe above its black eye stripe. Its eyes are orange-red. Its cheeks are white. Its throat is bright yellow. Like many bee-eaters, it has a wide band across its chest. This band has two colors. A deep purple-blue patch, called a gorget, sits above a chestnut-colored breastband.
Young blue-breasted bee-eaters look a bit different. Their sides and belly are buff-colored. Their chin is yellow-buff. Their chest is light green and mottled. Young birds also do not have a chest band at all.
Similar Birds: How to Tell Them Apart
The little bee-eater and the cinnamon-chested bee-eater look very much like the blue-breasted bee-eater. The little bee-eater sounds and acts similar. It also lives in the same areas. However, it is smaller than the blue-breasted bee-eater. Its head is also smaller. The little bee-eater also lacks the white cheek edges that the blue-breasted bee-eater has.
The cinnamon-chested bee-eater also lives in Ethiopia. It has a black eye mask and white cheeks, just like the blue-breasted bee-eater. But the blue-breasted bee-eater is smaller. It also has a much brighter green crown on its head.
Where Does the Blue-Breasted Bee-Eater Fit in the Bird Family Tree?
The blue-breasted bee-eater belongs to the Meropidae family. Birds in this family are quite similar in how they act and look. This family is well-defined within a larger group called the Coraciiformes order. All these birds are in the Aves class, which means they are birds.
The bee-eater family likely started in East Asia or Africa. Many of its early types developed in Africa. The Meropidae family has two main groups. One group lives only in Africa. The second group includes mostly birds that migrate between Asia and Africa.
The Merops group is part of the African resident group of bee-eaters. In the past, Merops was divided into six smaller groups. These groups are no longer used today. The closest relative to Merops variegatus is the M. pusillus, or little bee-eater. They are considered "sister species." This means they are each other's closest relatives. They form their own small group. The next closest relative to this pair is the M. oreobates, the cinnamon-chested bee-eater.
The blue-breasted bee-eater has three types, called subspecies. They are M. v. variegatus, M. v. loringi, and M. v. banweoloensis. The Ethiopian bee-eater (M. lafresnayii) used to be considered the same species. But in 2021, the IOC decided it was a separate species. It is now known to be more closely related to the M. oreobates than to M. variegatus.
Where Do Blue-Breasted Bee-Eaters Live?
Blue-breasted bee-eaters are found in many central African countries. These include Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Cameroon.
Within these countries, blue-breasted bee-eaters live in different kinds of places. They can be found near reedy lake shores. They also live in the savanna grasslands next to the Congo basin. They have been seen in marshes, grassy hillsides, and areas with papyrus plants. However, these birds are usually found in open, wet areas.
How Do Blue-Breasted Bee-Eaters Behave?
What Sounds Do They Make?
When a blue-breasted bee-eater is sitting on a branch, its song includes short trills. These sound like pip, tup-tup and trrip. When a male sings to attract a mate, his song is longer. It sounds like turrp p’ti p’ti p’ti.
What Do They Eat?
Birds in the Merops group mostly eat insects from the Hymenoptera family. This family includes bees, wasps, and ants. The blue-breasted bee-eaters eat many different kinds of insects. Most of their diet is made up of honey bee workers, flower bees, and Halictid bees. They also eat flies, beetles, true bugs, grasshoppers, and butterflies.
Blue-breasted bee-eaters often hunt for food in pairs. They usually wait on a perch, like a bush. They watch for insects flying by. When they spot prey, they fly out quickly to catch it in the air. Sometimes, they have even been seen diving into shallow water to catch small fish.
How Do They Raise Their Young?
Blue-breasted bee-eaters mate at different times of the year. This depends on where they live. In the northern parts of their range, they breed from February to March. In the east, it's from October to December. In the south, it's September to October. In the west, they breed from August to September.
They dig their nests in grassy hillsides or eroded lake shores. The nest is a tunnel, about 45 to 75 centimeters long. This tunnel leads to a special egg chamber. The egg chamber is about 17-70 by 18–22 centimeters. The eggs are kept in this unlined chamber during incubation.
Some bee-eater species are known for helping each other raise young. However, the blue-breasted bee-eater is a solitary monogamous breeder. This means one pair mates and raises their young alone. A mating pair will lay between 2 and 3 eggs. The parents and their young stay very social after the young birds fledge from the nest. They can even be found together until the start of the next breeding season.
