Blue cheeked beeeaters, DNP

This is a bird which breeds in sub-tropical semi-desert with a few trees, such as acacia. It winters in open woodland or grassland. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. However, this species probably takes more dragonflies than any other food item. Its preferred hunting perch is telephone wires if available. It is classified as Least Concern by IUCN.

The blue-cheeked bee-eater is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae. The genus name Merops is Ancient Greek for “bee-eater”, and persicus is Latin for “Persian”. It breeds in Northern Africa, and the Middle East from eastern Turkey to Kazakhstan and India. It is generally strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa.