Swallow-tailed Bee-eater
Merops hirundineus
Western savanna. Green above and upper breast; throat yellow with blue band; belly and forked tail blue. Immature apple-green above and below.
LC
Not Endemic
Description
Common resident. A small, fork-tailed bee-eater told from Little Bee-eater by bright blue collar and bluish underparts and tail. Immature lacks the yellow and blue throat; underparts pale apple-green. The call is a soft ‘kwit kwit’. Flocks occur in a variety of woodland habitats, being especially common in the regions of Kalahari sands. Hawks from a perch, often near pans and dry river beds. Nomadic when not breeding.
Quick Facts
Size
20-22 cm - M
Names
A: Swaelstertbyvreter
Ss: Thlapolome Ya Setonolekabelane
G: Schwalbenschwanzspint Gabelschwanzspint
Bird Family
Colourful, aerial-feeding birds with long decurved bills, many with elongated tail-feathers (absent in immatures). Most occur in flocks, catching flying insects while twisting and turning in graceful aerial manoeuvres or by hawking them from a perch in short aerial sallies, usually returning to the same perch to eat their prey. Immatures are dull versions of the adults. Sexes are alike.
Distribution
Gallery
Behaviour
Breeding
Habitat
Flocks occur in a variety of woodland habitats, being especially common in the regions of Kalahari sands.
