Swallow-tailed Bee-eater Merops hirundineus Scientific name definitions

23 cm; 18–29 g. Green above, with blue rump ; broad black eyestripe edged with bluish-white below; throat yellow, bordered below by blue gorget; breast green, shading to blue on belly and undertail-­coverts; remiges mainly rufous, trailing edge of wing blackish; underside of wing pale rufous; exposed parts of tertials bleach to greyish-blue; tail deeply forked, middle pair of feathers greyish-blue, remainder greenish-blue, all but median and attenuated outer pair broadly tipped with greyish-white on inner web and with subterminal dusky zone on both webs; outer edge of tail almost straight, the forked tips curving slightly inwards, fork 31–46 mm deep; iris orange-red to crimson. Sexes alike. Juvenile duller, throat greenish-white, no gorget, iris dark brown. Races differ in breadth of blue gorget and in depth of blue wash on tail and belly: furcatus darker than nominate, gorget deeper blue and broader; chrysolaimus has pale blue forehead and eyebrow, green on tail; <em>heuglini</em> deeper blue on forehead, gorget and tail-coverts.

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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.

Tall, mature savanna woodland; Baikiaea woodland on Kalahari sand, Isoberlinia, Colophospermum, Brachystegia and Combretum woods, riverine thickets, tall eucalypt windbreaks, bushy river plains, parkland, and semi-desert with scattered Acacia. Somewhat nomadic, and readily invades recently burnt areas.

Mobile and nomadic. Movements poorly understood in N tropics, and difficult to interpret even in those parts of S Africa where species is commonest and well watched; seasonal mapping shows it to be commoner in Namibia in Sept–Apr than in May–Aug, but not much seasonal change in Zimbabwe and Zambia, where it has been thought of as mainly a dry-season or Jun–Sept visitor; prone to vagrancy into SE South Africa about May–Aug, with sufficient records in Zululand and Natal for it to be regarded as a winter visitor there.

Diet of honeybees and other hymenopterans, flies, beetles, butterflies, bugs, grasshoppers and cicadas. Feeds by fly-catching in same manner as other small bee-eaters, but perches higher, up to 20 m above ground on bare limb or telephone wire.

A variety of rather subdued rolling calls “peerrr...peerrr...”, “trip...trip...”. Flight call is a dry “prip....prip...”. Especially vocal when in groups.

In N tropics breeds about Apr–Jul, and in S Africa in Sept–Dec. Nests solitarily, or sometimes 2–3 pairs close together. Excavates burrow  in flat or shelving ground with bare patches of sandy soil, or in roadside bank or aardvark (Orycteropus afer) lair; burrow 80–100 cm long. Clutch of 2–4 eggs; incubation and nestling periods unknown.

Not globally threatened. Widely distributed but local and generally uncommon in N tropics; much larger range S of equator, where sparse and uncommon to locally common; near Lusaka, Zambia, density of 2 birds/km² in prime habitat. Present in numerous national parks, e.g. Comoe (Ivory Coast), Bamingui-Bangoran (Central African Republic), Kabalega Falls (Uganda), Mikumi (Tanzania), Liwonde (Malawi), Waterberg Plateau and Etosha (Namibia) and Hwange (Zimbabwe).