Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
Merops leschenaulti
Beautiful, dainty bee-eater with a bright reddish head and yellow throat. Dark “necktie” most noticeable when in flight overhead. Inhabits forest edge, wooded clearings, and open areas with clusters of trees; often uses exposed perches. Some populations undertake regional movements, vacating breeding grounds after the monsoons pass. Often gives bright chirrupy calls.
识别特征
The chestnut-headed bee-eater is 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) in overall length and weighs 26–33 g (0.92–1.16 oz). The sexes are similar in appearance. The forehead, crown, nape, mantle and ear-coverts are bright chestnut. The lores are black, continued as a thin band under the eye and ear-coverts. The wing coverts, lower back and tertials are green, the latter are tipped with bluish. The rump and uppertail coverts are pale shining blue. The primaries and secondaries are green, rufous on the inner webs, and all tipped dusky. The central tail-feathers are bluish on the outer, and green on the inner webs; the others are green, margined on the inner web with brown and all tipped dusky. The sides of the face, chin and throat are yellow; below this a broad band of chestnut extending to the sides of the neck and meeting the chestnut of the upper plumage; below this again is a gorget formed by a short distinct band of black and then an ill-defined band of yellow. The remainder of lower plumage is green tipped with blue, especially on the vent and undertail coverts. The iris is red, the bill is black, the legs are dusky black and the claws dark horn-colour. The juveniles are like the adult but duller. They a green forehead, forecrown and mantle. The lower throat is yellow rather than chestnut and the gorget band is indistinct. The breast and belly are paler and more olive in colour than the adult.<p>The Javan sub-species, M. l. quinticolor, differs in having the space from the bill down to the black pectoral band pure yellow without any chestnut, and in having an entirely blue tail. Race andamanensis found in the Andamans is slightly larger than the Indian race.
分类信息
The chestnut-headed bee-eater was formally described in 1817 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot under the current binomial name Merops leschenaulti. He specified the locality as Java. This was an error as this species does not occur there and the locality has been designated as Sri Lanka. The specific epithet was chosen to honour the French naturalist and collector Jean-Baptiste Leschenault de La Tour who had brought Vieillot's specimen to France.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- 学名
- Merops leschenaulti
- 命名信息
- Vieillot, 1817
- 目
- Coraciiformes
- 科
- Meropidae
- 属
- Merops
分布与栖息地
This is a bird which breeds in sub-tropical open woodland, often near water. It is most common in highland areas.
- 迁徙
- Complete migrants
行为
These birds are gregarious and feed and roost communally.<p>Chestnut-headed bee-eaters usually nest in small colonies in sandy banks. They make a relatively long tunnel in which the 5 to 6 spherical white eggs are laid. Both the male and the female take care of the eggs and feed the young.<p>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.
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- rising
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Indigo Flowerpiercer
Diglossa indigotica
Small flowerpiercer with restricted range in western Colombia and northwest Ecuador. Entirely ultramarine blue, though can appear dark in poor light. Most distinctive feature is its piercing red eye. Also note the typical flowerpiercer bill: uniquely upswept with a hooked tip. Found in the subtropical zone of the Andes, where singles or pairs forage at all levels of forest and edge, often following mixed-species flocks.
Black-tipped Cotinga
Carpodectes hopkei
This stunning cotinga is found only from extreme eastern Panama to northwest Ecuador. Males are unmistakable in range: entirely snowy white with a reddish eye and tiny black spots on the wingtips and tail. Females are gray with white edges on the wing feathers. Note chunky shape and short square tail. Occurs singly or in pairs, usually perched in the canopy of mature forest in lowlands and foothills, sometimes around a fruiting tree. Flies with deep rowing wingbeats.
White-crowned Hornbill
Berenicornis comatus
Eccentric-looking hornbill with a bushy, upright white crest and a white tail. Male is white from the head down to the belly; female is predominantly black, with only a white crest. Pale wing edges revealed only when in flight. Unlike many other hornbills in its range, forages primarily at lower levels in the forest, frequently descending down to the ground. Social; forages in flocks. Gives rather soothing, owl-like hooting coos.
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