Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Merops persicus, photographed at Tarangire National Park, southwest of Arusha in Tanzania, Africa.
Image: Dan Logen, 17 January 2010 [larger view]
1-17-10, Nikon D300, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender ISO 500, F/9, 1/250 sec.
Hint: This migratory African Mystery Bird belongs to a group of birds that are named for what they commonly prey upon (although this species prefers to munch on something else). Can you name the group of birds as well as this particular species?
Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, Merops persicus, are members of the bee-eater family, Meropidae. This group of birds was named because they mostly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets. They are sit-and-wait predators that fly out from an open perch or telephone lines to grab insects in midair. However, Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters are different from their close relatives they are thought to eat more dragonflies than bees.
Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters have an extremely large range and are long-distance migrants; nesting colonially in sandy banks in the semi-deserts of northern Africa and subtropical Asia, whilst wintering in open woodland or grassland in tropical Africa.
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