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Merops orientalis
Confused on the Id. The sexes are not visually distinguishable. The entire plumage is bright green and tinged with blue especially on the chin and throat. The crown and upper back are tinged with golden rufous. The flight feathers are rufous washed with green and tipped with blackish. A fine black line runs in front of and behind the eye. The iris is crimson and the bill is black while the legs are dark grey.
Seen at Nalsarovar bird sanctuary.
Like other species in the genus, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and ants, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. Before swallowing prey, a bee-eater removes stings and breaks the exoskeleton of the prey by repeatedly thrashing it on the perch.
14 Comments
Ashish, I have updated the ID till something firm comes up. Thanks again for the help.
Thanks a lot Ashish! I was in favor of green bee eater (as there were many green bee eaters around at that time), but somebody told me it could be blue tailed. Will search and update.
Satyen now you will not any more doubt about ID... Refer that Black border on spreaded wings....
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php...
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php...
Added to the global flight mission.
Thanks Sachin.
Very well captured Satyen
Thanks again Anjali.
:-).. Nice pose though ...
Thanks Anjali, confused between green and blue tailed.
Bee eater for sure .. which one difficult to tell..
Help required on the Id.
Thanks.
nice diving pose!!
Uploaded a cropped image.