Olive bee-eater
| Olive bee-eater | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Coraciiformes |
| Family: | Meropidae |
| Genus: | Merops |
| Species: | M. superciliosus |
| Binomial name | |
| Merops superciliosus Linnaeus, 1766 | |
The olive bee-eater, (or Madagascar bee-eater) (Merops superciliosus) is a near passerine bee-eater species in the genus Merops.
The olive bee-eater is found in the grassland and coastal mountain forests of East Africa and Madagascar, and an isolated population can be found in coastal Angola.[2] They are partially migratory, and usually breed only in the southern portion of their range, moving north for the dry season in southern Africa. It lays four eggs in a burrow nest at the beginning of the southern African wet season, and the chicks usually hatch at the beginning of December.[3] Unlike most bee-eaters, the species does not practice cooperative breeding and postfledging dependence is only around nineteen days,[4] which is typical of temperate zone passerines and about half that of most Meropidae species.
Gallery
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A bee caught in the Anjajavy Forest
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Pair in the Anjajavy Forest
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In flight over a swimming pool at Anjajavy
References
- ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Merops superciliosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ↑ Range
- ↑ Madagascar Bee-eater
- ↑ Prolonged offspring dependence and cooperative breeding in birds
External links
- Olive bee-eater - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.