Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus)

Family
Meropidae (Bee-eaters)

Size
15 - 17 cm

First Described (Guide)
M�ller, 1776

Habitat
Subtropical and tropical lowland dry grassland and shrubland, moist forest, inland wetlands, dry savanna, arable land.

Range (Guide)

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], C�te dIvoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Population
Estimated population is 85,000,000 (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Food
Insects, especially bees, wasps, hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch.

Voice
A soft 'seep'. Usually silent.

Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (23)...)

Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus) [XC651027]
by isaac kilusu from City of Matlosana (near Klerksdorp), Southern DC, North West, South Africa (call)

Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus) [XC485974]
by Louis A. Hansen from Mpak, Ziguinchor, Casamance, Senegal (call)

Nest
In a chamber at the end of a tunnel made in a sandy bank.

Eggs (Guide)
Clutch Size: 4 - 6
Color: white
Dimensions: (spherical)
Incubation: by both sexes

Subspecies
Has been placed with other small, round-winged species lacking tail-streamers in genus Mellitophagus, comprising present species and Blue-headed Bee-eater (Merops muelleri), Black Bee-eater (Merops gularis), Blue-breasted Bee-eater (Merops variegatus), Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater (Merops oreobates), Red-throated Bee-eater (Merops bulocki) and White-fronted Bee-eater (Merops bullockoides). Subspecies all intergrade along narrow corridor where respective ranges meet.

The following 5 subspecies are recognised:

pusillus M�ller, 1776 - Senegal and Guinea east to central Sudan (to c. 29� east).
ocularis (Reichenow, 1900) - From central Sudan east to Red Sea coast of Eritrea, south to north-eastern Zaire and north-western Uganda.
cyanostictus Cabanis, 1869 - Somalia and eastern Kenya.
meridionalis (Sharpe, 1892) - Eastern Africa (except eastern Kenya), and from equator south to Angola and Natal.
argutus Clancey, 1967 - South-western Angola, northern Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana, south-western Zimbabwe.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus) - 9 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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