Chestnut-headed Bee-eater Merops leschenaulti Scientific name definitions

20–22·5 cm; 23–33 g. A distinctive, smallish bee-eater with long wings but without long tail-streamers. Nominate race has bay-brown crown and mantle , green wings with broad black band over trailing edge, azure rump; black mask, yellow chin, cheeks and throat , rufous lower throat, thin black gorget; upper breast yellow, lower breast green, belly blue-green, bluer towards undertail-coverts; iris red. Sexes alike. Juvenile has forehead, crown and mantle green, not bay-brown, and nape and sides of crown rufous, tinged with green; gorget line dusky or rufous, not black. Race andamanensis larger (on average wing 3 mm, tail 12 mm and bill 2·4 mm longer) (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), with mask reduced and rufous (not black), like sides of breast ; <em>quinticolor</em> has mask mostly chestnut, with lower throat yellow, tail blue and has wing 7% shorter than in nominate (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Typically found in clearings and open spaces in forested country; also well-wooded open countryside, plantations, large gardens, beach scrub and coastal dunes (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ), and along riversides, roadsides, railways and mule paths. Generally recorded from sea-level to 800 m, but found locally up to 1500 m (Sri Lanka, W Ghats, India, and Java) and to 1600 m in Nepal (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

In general resident, but marked migrations in some regions. In India, vacates monsoon-rainfall areas in Jun–Sept and is only summer visitor to foothills of Himalayas, although a few remain in winter (4 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ); some birds resident in Nepal, but most are visitors in Feb–Oct, breeding in spring. Mainly a spring and summer visitor in N Myanmar, and in Malay Peninsula local residents are augmented by winter visitors in Sept–Apr, with some evidence that species vacates parts of N Laos in midwinter (5 Fuchs, J., A. Cibois, J. W. Duckworth, R. Eve, W. G. Robichaud, T. Tizard, and D. van Gansberghe (2007). Birds of Phongsaly province and the Nam Ou river, Laos. Forktail 23:22-86. Close ), and very small numbers have been observed on passage through peninsular Thailand from late Oct (6 DeCandido, R., Sawasdee, C., Smith, D., Nualsri, C. and Allen, D. (2011). Observations on the 297979 southbound migration of three bee-eater species at Radar Hill, Thailand. Forktail. 27: 106-108. Close ). Malaysian breeders may also disperse varying distances up to 100 km S in non-breeding season, from Jul onwards (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). At middle latitudes within species’ range, there is more limited (temporal) dispersal during wettest months, e.g. being absent Jun–Aug around Khao Yai National Park, in Thailand (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Not well known; eats honeybees (Apis), wasps, ants, termites, dragonflies, butterflies and grasshoppers, all taken airborne; two pellets in Malaysia contained mainly remains of hymenopterans, especially wasp Polybioides raphigastra and honeybees Apis indica and A. dorsata (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Forages by fly-catching from a bushtop, wire or bare branch; freely uses telephone wires and fences, often perching just 1–2 m above ground (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ), although in non-breeding season groups may forage in crowns of trees (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ), occasionally in association with M. viridis (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ).

Very vocal, with most calls rather like those of M. apiaster, albeit briefer and less melodious, and differ from M. orientalis in being longer, more musical, less abrupt and less twangy (4 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ): “pruik”, “churit” or “djewy”, or slight variations thereof (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); calls are often in closely spaced series (2–4 notes per second) that may descend slightly in pitch (4 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ), and apparently are deeper-sounding in flight than when bird is perched (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ).

Eggs usually laid in Feb–Jun, but May–Oct in Java (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); latest nestlings in May in Malaysia (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Loosely colonial, with c. 10–100 nests relatively close together, exceptionally several hundred pairs (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ), or single nests every few hundred metres along a roadside or bank, and sometimes nests close to lone nests of M. pusillus or at edge of M. philippinus colony, respectively (7 Burt, D.B. (2002). Social and breeding biology of bee-eaters in Thailand. Wilson Bull.. 114(2): 275–279. Close ). Generally considered monogamous, but at least one recent observation of a helper at nest in Thailand (7 Burt, D.B. (2002). Social and breeding biology of bee-eaters in Thailand. Wilson Bull.. 114(2): 275–279. Close ). Both sexes dig nest-burrow in flat, open, sandy ground, shelving sandbank by river, or in vertical bank by river, drain or road cutting; in high cliffs, nests tend to be sited near top, 3–6 m above ground or water; burrow 45 cm long in hard earth, up to 3 m long in soft earth, in flat ground declines steeply then levels off to run c. 25 cm below surface, and in cliffs inclines gently for some 50 cm then becomes horizontal; entrance up to c. 8 cm in diameter (8 Huda, K.M.N. (1996). Some observations on the nesting activities of Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters Merops leschenaultii and Green Bee-eaters M. orientalis in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Forktail. 12: 155-156. Close ); digging may last for almost one month. Clutch of 4–8 eggs, 4–5 in Sri Lanka, usually six in N India; incubation by both sexes, period not known, with shifts of c. 10–25 minutes; nestling period not known. Generally faithful to nest-site, with 80% of individuals at one colony in Malaysia returning to it in subsequent years (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ).

Not globally threatened. Common at least locally throughout huge range. Unusually high adult survival rate, of 80% on Penang I, Malaysia. As with most or all open-country bee-eaters, it is likely that densities and abundances have increased with man-induced changes to the land over the centuries, although there is some evidence too of local losses, in Malaysia (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); species appears to be colonizing S Sumatra, where previously considered only migrant (from either Java or Malaysia), mainly in Aug–Mar, but there have been several recent breeding records (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Present in numerous national parks, e.g. Chitwan (Nepal), Corbett and Periyar (India), Yala (Sri Lanka), Khao Yai and Kaeng Krachan (Thailand), Nam Bai Cat Tien and Bach Ma (Vietnam) and Bali Barat (Bali). Race andamanensis reported to be common in Andamans in mid-1980s.