Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus Scientific name definitions

31 cm (with streamers, up to 7 cm more); 38–56 g. A large, slim bee-eater with long wings. Male of nomin­ate race has upperparts grass-green in fresh plumage, wings and tail more golden-green, sometimes all parts except rump quite strongly olive; with bleaching or wear turns more bluish, particularly on tertials and rump; wings with narrow, dusky trailing edge; forehead narrowly white by bill, shading backwards to powder-blue, but often, possibly immature birds, forehead yellowish and blue eyebrow poorly developed; broad black eyeband; cheeks broadly blue but may be narrowly white; chin bright yellow, sometimes dull yellow; throat rufous, underparts bright green; axillaries and entire underwing except distal halves of flight-feathers russet; bill long and slender, black; iris claret. Distinguished from M. superciliosus by green crown, presence of blue and yellow colours, lack of white surround to bill and mask; rather more similar to M. philippinus, from which differs in rump and tail being green, not blue, and moustachial area being green, not rufous-brown. Female like male, but tail-streamers average shorter, iris orange-red. Juvenile olive-green above except for blue-green rump and ochre tinge on nape; head and body markedly scaly, feathers narrowly white-fringed; forehead narrowly buffy, eyebrow yellowish-buff; chin pale buff, washed yellow; throat warm buff, yellower or white towards cheeks; breast pale green, scaly; undertail-coverts very pale green; moults directly into adult plumage 4–5 weeks after fledging. Race <em>chrysocercus</em> has upperparts more golden, and is slightly smaller than nominate, though streamers often longer (in males, 70–104 mm versus 45–67 mm in nominate) (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

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.

In summer, occupies desert, semi-desert, steppe, dunes, saline pans, cultivation, thorn woodland and sandy slopes with small gulleys, ravines, quarries, pits and embankments; breeds mainly in sand deserts near bodies of water fringed with reeds and tamarisks. In Africa during non-breeding season, inhabits a wide variety of greener habitats: Parinari macrophylla savanna (2 Gatter, W. (1997). Birds of Liberia. Pica Press, Aula-Verlag and Yale University Press, Robertsbridge, UK; Wiesbaden, Germany; and New Haven, CT, USA. Close ), broad river valleys, woods, lakeshores, swamps, ponds, dams, waterworks and cultivation; flocks roost in mangroves in Liberia (2 Gatter, W. (1997). Birds of Liberia. Pica Press, Aula-Verlag and Yale University Press, Robertsbridge, UK; Wiesbaden, Germany; and New Haven, CT, USA. Close ) and Sierra Leone. Generally found below 1500 m (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), but recorded to 2400 m in Malawi (3 Dowsett-Lemaire, F., and R. J. Dowsett (2006). The Birds of Malawi: An Atlas and Handbook. Tauraco Press & Aves, Liège, Belgium. Close ).

A long-distance migrant , moving in small and large flocks, mainly by day, passing on broad front often at considerable height; generally vacates breeding grounds in Aug and arrives in non-breeding quarters from Nov, with those breeding in NW Africa, for example, departing late Jul–Sept and returning late Mar and, mainly, Apr (4 Hazevoet, C.J. (1996). A record of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus from the Cape Verde Islands and status of the species in West Africa. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 116(1): 50-52. Close ), but recorded as far S as Malawi as early as 5 Oct and remains there as late as 7 May (3 Dowsett-Lemaire, F., and R. J. Dowsett (2006). The Birds of Malawi: An Atlas and Handbook. Tauraco Press & Aves, Liège, Belgium. Close ) (with similar extreme dates recorded in neighbouring Zambia) (5 Dowsett, R. J., D. R. Aspinwall, and F. Dowsett-Lemaire (2008). The Birds of Zambia. Tauraco Press & Aves, Liège, Belgium. Close ). On long sea crossings (e.g. across Arabian Sea) (6 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ) obliged to migrate at night; at Karachi, S Pakistan, spring migrants cross during five hours in middle of night. Sometimes migrates with M. apiaster, but in spring tends to arrive on breeding grounds two weeks later than that species. Saharan population winters in sub-Saharan W Africa; occurs all winter around L Chad, and still present on reed islands far out into the lake in mid-Jul, with occasional records elsewhere in W Africa, e.g. Guinea-Bissau, during boreal summer (4 Hazevoet, C.J. (1996). A record of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus from the Cape Verde Islands and status of the species in West Africa. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 116(1): 50-52. Close ), and evidence from Liberia of two populations with separate life histories, although both tentatively attributed to race chrysocercus, one breeding largely in N Africa that is largely absent in wet season, and the other breeding in the dry season and only absent at the very height of the wet season (boreal summer); further research required (2 Gatter, W. (1997). Birds of Liberia. Pica Press, Aula-Verlag and Yale University Press, Robertsbridge, UK; Wiesbaden, Germany; and New Haven, CT, USA. Close ). Asian population winters partly in India, Pakistan and Yemen, but mainly in E half of Africa from Ethiopia to NE Namibia, Botswana, W Transvaal and NE Natal, although large numbers of this species sometimes winter in W Africa, far more than might be expected given the presumed size of NW African breeding population, suggesting that some of nominate race winter farther W than generally suspected (4 Hazevoet, C.J. (1996). A record of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus from the Cape Verde Islands and status of the species in West Africa. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 116(1): 50-52. Close ); most enter Africa along Nile Valley and across Red Sea, where many killed by Sooty Falcons (Falco concolor). At feeding sites of Little Owl (Athene noctua) in Kuwait, remains of present species found, but without direct evidence of predation (7 Clayton, D.A. (1991). The Little Owl Athene noctua and its food in Kuwait. Sandgrouse. 13(1): 2-6. Close ). Nominate race is a vagrant to N & NW Europe, including Britain (8 Sangster, G., Collinson, J.M., Helbig, A.J., Knox, A.G. and Parkin, D.T. (2004). Taxonomic recommendations for British birds: second report. Ibis. 146(1): 153-157. Close ), Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, with a total of 15 records prior to 1994, mainly in May–Aug (9 Ebels, E.B. and van der Laan, J. (1994). Occurrence of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in Europe. Dutch Birding. 16(3): 95-101. In English with Dutch summary. Close ), but occasionally as late as Oct (10 Bonaccorsi, G. (1999). Le Guêpier de Perse Merops superciliosus persicus a été noté en Corse. Alauda. 67(3): 233. Close ). Some records from S Europe (e.g. Malta (9 Ebels, E.B. and van der Laan, J. (1994). Occurrence of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in Europe. Dutch Birding. 16(3): 95-101. In English with Dutch summary. Close ), and Spain) (11 de Juana A., E. and el Comité de Rarezas de la Sociedad Española de Ornitología (1999). Observaciones de aves raras en España, año 1997. Ardeola. 46(1): 129–148. Close ) might involve chrysocercus, and that on Cape Verde Is (Mar 1985) presumably pertained to the latter subspecies (4 Hazevoet, C.J. (1996). A record of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus from the Cape Verde Islands and status of the species in West Africa. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 116(1): 50-52. Close ), but at least some records from Mediterrean islands have involved nominate persicus, e.g. one on Corsica in Sept 1998 (10 Bonaccorsi, G. (1999). Le Guêpier de Perse Merops superciliosus persicus a été noté en Corse. Alauda. 67(3): 233. Close ).

Eats mainly hymenopterans on Asian breeding grounds and mainly dragonflies in Africa; many dragonflies also taken in Asia, on average constituting only c. 15% of diet, but in some places predominating. Takes much greater diversity of airborne insects even than does, e.g., M. apiaster; almost exclusively honeybees (Apis) when they are plentiful; catches very small insects as well as large beetles, locusts and cicadas. Incidental observations at colonies in Turkey suggested that main diet was butterflies, especially Vanessa cardui, with one record of sun spider (Galeodes sp., Solifugae), a terrestrial invertebrate (12 Štěpánek, P. (2011). Blue-cheeked Bee-eater feeding on solifuge. British Birds. 104(11): 673-674. Close ). At least at mixed colonies in C Asia, diets of present species and M. apiaster are qualitatively similar at insect family level, but differ at species level, partly because of distinct preferences of M. apiaster for small beetles, ants and termites, and of M. persicus for large dragonflies and cicadas; M. persicus is less specialized than M. apiaster and has an airborne insect prey spectrum nearly twice as broad (13 Kossenko, S. M., and C. H. Fry (1998). Competition and coexistence of the European Bee-eater Merops apiaster and the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus in Asia. Ibis 140(1):2-13. Close ). Feeds by making long pursuit-flights from telephone wires, fences, treetops, even from ground; makes height with fast, even wingbeats, glides, then twists abruptly after its prey; some wasps are seized from below, with bird’s head thrown back and its bill pointing straight up. Returns to perch to knock prey and, if hymenopteran, to rub its tail. Often forages in continuous flight; occasionally follows moving vehicle to catch insects dislodged from grass.

Very similar to that of M. apiaster, but separable with experience: a pleasant rolling “dirrip”, at rate of c. 2 notes per second (6 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ), but harder (less musical), shorter, less slurred, more purring (6 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ) and obviously polysyllabic, and compared to M. philippinus is much drier and less trilled (6 Rasmussen, P. C., and J. C. Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ); also a mellow interrogative “tetew”, with a sharp “dik-dik-dik”; greeting call, “diripp-dirippdiripp”given on perch with wings briefly raised, head held high and tail fanned and vibrated (1 Fry, C. H., K. Fry, and A. Harris (1992). Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Eggs laid generally in Mar–Jun, but in any one region all birds lay within three weeks of each other, and record of Oct in Mauritania (14 Fry, C. H., S. Keith, and E. K. Urban, Editors (1988). The Birds of Africa. Volume 3. Parrots to Woodpeckers. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Monogamous; helpers at nest not certainly recorded. Nests solitarily, or more commonly in loose colonies of c. 10 in 1 ha, exceptionally involving 1000s of pairs in Iraq (14 Fry, C. H., S. Keith, and E. K. Urban, Editors (1988). The Birds of Africa. Volume 3. Parrots to Woodpeckers. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); often forms mixed colonies with M. apiaster without interspecific (but frequent intraspecific) competition and usually breeding on average c. 10 days later than latter species (15 Kossenko, S.M. (1994). Significance of interspecific competition for the interactions of European and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters in central Asia. Journal of Ornithology. 135(1): 205. Close ). Sited in bank of canal or irrigation ditch, seashore (Caspian), low cliff of compacted, wind-scoured sand dune, hard-baked sandy mud plain or large, enclosed pasture, also in earthen shoulder of metalled road, burrow then extending beneath tarmac; excavates in level, sandy ground, slope, declivity face or cliff, always in cliff when mixed with M. apiaster; burrow 1–3·1 m (16 Rabii, K., Bathaei, M.R. and Moghaddas, D. (2006). Preliminary survey of breeding Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus in Miankaleh Wildlife Refuge, southeast Caspian Sea. Podoces. 1(1-2): 77–82. Close ) long depending on softness of soil, nearly straight but more frequently on greater incline than M. apiaster (13 Kossenko, S. M., and C. H. Fry (1998). Competition and coexistence of the European Bee-eater Merops apiaster and the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus in Asia. Ibis 140(1):2-13. Close ), in cliff horizontal and in level ground declining at c. 20º, entrance 7·5–8·5 cm wide, 5–7·5 cm high, with terminal egg-chamber 15–20 cm long, 9 cm wide and 12 cm high. Average distance between nests of neighbouring pairs 72 m (± 11·6 m) (13 Kossenko, S. M., and C. H. Fry (1998). Competition and coexistence of the European Bee-eater Merops apiaster and the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus in Asia. Ibis 140(1):2-13. Close ). Clutch of 4–8 eggs, usually 6–7, white, 24·1–27·1 mm × 20–22·6 mm, mean 6·37 g, laid at c. 1-day intervals (14 Fry, C. H., S. Keith, and E. K. Urban, Editors (1988). The Birds of Africa. Volume 3. Parrots to Woodpeckers. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); incubated by both parents by day, by female alone at night, commeces with first egg (14 Fry, C. H., S. Keith, and E. K. Urban, Editors (1988). The Birds of Africa. Volume 3. Parrots to Woodpeckers. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); incubation period 23–26 days and nestling period c. 30 days, neither known well and hard to measure, as laying, hatching and young fledging all asynchronous. Breeding success postulated to be higher in mixed colonies with M. apiaster (13 Kossenko, S. M., and C. H. Fry (1998). Competition and coexistence of the European Bee-eater Merops apiaster and the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus in Asia. Ibis 140(1):2-13. Close ), but few specific data: most egg loss in mixed colonies in C Asia results from hatching failure, but in monospecific colonies, it was predation, with foxes (Vulpes corsac), jackals (Canis aureus) and polecats (Vormela peregusna) responsible for many losses, while starvation had a major impact on nestling survival in mixed colonies, accounting for 83% of mortality, whereas in single-species colonies 44% of nestling losses were due to predation and 48% to starvation (13 Kossenko, S. M., and C. H. Fry (1998). Competition and coexistence of the European Bee-eater Merops apiaster and the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus in Asia. Ibis 140(1):2-13. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally rather common and widespread, and not known to be unduly threatened on breeding or non-breeding grounds. However, NW African population apparently very small, just few 100s of pairs (4 Hazevoet, C.J. (1996). A record of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus from the Cape Verde Islands and status of the species in West Africa. Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. 116(1): 50-52. Close ) and rare at N limits of breeding range, in Astrakhan region of S Russia, on NW shore of Caspian Sea (17 Arkhipov, V.Y. (2006). Status and distribution of selected bird species on the Russia-Kazakhstan border northwest of the Caspian Sea. Sandgrouse. 28(2): 156–160. Close ); formerly bred Lebanon, but no records since 1945 (18 Ramadan-Jaradi, G., and M. Ramadan-Jaradi (1999). An updated checklist of the birds of Lebanon. Sandgrouse 21(2):132–170. Close ), and appears to be declining in Turkey, with evidence of local extirpations, and where it is generally very local and uncommon (19 Kirwan, G. M., K. A. Boyla, P. Castell, B. Demirci, M. Özen, H. Welch, and T. Marlow (2008). The Birds of Turkey: The Distribution, Taxonomy and Breeding of Turkish Birds. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). The population in S Morocco, mostly restricted to the Draa valley, may reach over 100–150 pairs (20 Ramos Melo, J.J. (2016). Distribución y estatus del Abejaruco persa (Merops persicus) en Marruecos. Go-South Bulletin. 13: 36–42. Close ). Jordanian population estimated to number several hundred pairs (21 Khoury, F., K. Al-Omari, J. Azar, and I. Al-Hasani (2006) Observations on the avifauna of the eastern Jordan Valley, during July–August 2005. Sandgrouse 28: 119–126. Close ). Colonies near human habitation are often mindlessly harassed by people; flat-ground colonies can be obliterated, or the birds forced to move away locally, by agricultural developments; yet even on the intensively settled and cultivated Batinah coast of N Oman, for instance, the species seems to be holding its own. Present in several protected areas, e.g. Khirthar National Park (Pakistan) and Mian Kaleh Wildlife Refuge (Iran).