Arabian Green Bee-eater
Merops cyanophrys
A small, dainty bee-eater of arid, open terrain with scattered trees, including semideserts, palm groves, and gardens. Mainly green with a slender black face mask, throat band, and a stunning electric-blue face and throat. Juveniles are duller than adults and lack the short tail spike. In flight, note the rusty underwing with a black trailing edge. Flies gracefully as it catches insects and other prey. Calls are a series of gentle liquid trills or more staccato notes.
识别特征
It can be distinguished from M. orientalis and M. viridissimus by its shorter central tail feathers, the blue forehead, supercilium, and throat, as well as its broader black breast band. It also differs in voice.
分类信息
Although initially described as distinct species, the Arabian and African (M. viridissimus) green bee-eaters were grouped with the Asian green bee-eater (M. orientalis) as the green bee-eater by Charles Sibley and Burt Monroe in 1990. However, in 2014, the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International again split them as distinct species. A 2020 study found significant differences in morphology and voice between all three species, so they were also split from one another by the International Ornithologists' Union in 2021.<p>There are thought to be two subspecies:
- 学名
- Merops cyanophrys
- 命名信息
- (Cabanis & Heine, 1860)
- 目
- Coraciiformes
- 科
- Meropidae
- 属
- Merops
分布与栖息地
It is found throughout arid, open regions of the Middle East with scattered trees, as well as wadis, gardens, and farmland. It ranges from western and central Saudi Arabia south to Yemen, and ranges north to Oman and the eastern United Arab Emirates, as well as scattered offshore islands in the western UAE. Agricultural expansion and irrigation has created new optimal habitat for this species, and thus its population has grown, which allowed it to colonize parts of the Levant (eastern Israel, western Jordan, and a very small portion of the Sinai Peninsula) prior to 2001. Due to this increasing population and it benefiting from human habitat modification, it is not thought to be under threat.
- 迁徙
- Resident species
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- rising
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Gray-headed Batis
Batis orientalis
A typical black, white, and gray batis. Note the chest band, which is black in males and chestnut in females. Found in dry savanna and thornscrub, often in pairs. Very similar to Western Black-headed Batis, and best distinguished by voice, but usually shows a paler gray crown. Also similar to Pygmy Batis, but larger, and the white eyebrow extends well behind the eye. The distinctive song is a descending series of several whistled notes.
Swamp Grass Babbler
Laticilla cinerascens
Slender, prinia-like babbler restricted to the Brahmaputra floodplains of far northeastern India and northern Bangladesh. Streaked gray-brown above and white below with faint white eye-arcs and a long tail. Shy, keeping to deep beds of tall grasses, especially elephant grass, on river plains, where it is most easily detected by its fluid warbling song.
Plumbeous Ibis
Theristicus caerulescens
Distinctive gray ibis with a white forehead and bushy crest. Favors marshes, rice fields, and ponds, but also occurs in grassland, pastures, and savanna. Eats insects, snails, and fish. Mostly seen singly or in pairs. Very vocal, especially at dawn, giving a fast series of cackling notes: "kah-kah-kah-kah-kah-kah-kah."
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