Blue-breasted Bee-eater Merops variegatus Scientific name definitions

Blue-breasted Bee-eater has a patchy distribution across Africa, where it is found across parts of the Congo Basin, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia, and west to southeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Angola. It prefers wetter habitats than the similar and closely related Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus), with which the present species is syntopic across much of its range. Broadly, it is bright green above, with a yellow throat and a broad purple-blue gorget across its upper breast, which gives it its common name, while below it is light greenish-yellow to greenish-buff. The Ethiopian Bee-eater (Merops lafresnayii), which (as its name suggests) occurs in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and South Sudan, is now considered to be a separate species from Blue-breasted Bee-eater. Like other bee-eaters, Blue-breasted Bee-eater sallies out from a perch to catch flying insects. Little is known about the breeding biology of this species, but it is a solitary nester, digging a tunnel from a hillside or small ridge where it lays 2–3 eggs. It is common throughout its rather large range, and thus faces no immediate conservation threats.