Blue-headed Bee-eater (Merops muelleri) [XC681908]
by id from Bakoumba, Lekoko, Haut-Ogooue, Gabon (uncertain)
Blue-headed Bee-eater (Merops muelleri) [XC163356]
by BurBenj from Yala River trail, Kakamega Forest, Kenya (call)
Subspecies
Formerly sometimes joined with Black Bee-eater (Merops gularis) in genus Meropiscus. Has been placed with other small, round-winged species lacking tail-streamers in genus Mellitophagus, comprising present species and Black Bee-eater (Merops gularis), Little Bee-eater (Merops pusillus), 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 intergrade between R Cross, Nigeria, and Douala, Cameroon; Kenyan population has been described as subspecies yalensis, but now considered indistinguishable from nominate.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
mentalis Cabanis, 1889 - Sierra Leone and south-western Mali to western Cameroon, and Bioko (Fernando Póo). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Blue-moustached Bee-eater (Merops mentalis).
muelleri (Cassin, 1857) - Southern Cameroon and northern Gabon to eastern Zaire, also western Kenya.