Arabian Green Bee-eater Merops cyanophrys
(aka Little Green Bee-eater, Green Bee-eater Merops orientalis)
Little Green Bee-eater, Dubai Pivot Fields, Dubai, November 2010 - click for larger image

United Arab Emirates

The Arabian Green Bee-eater is distributed in the Middle East. See the distribution map at Birdlife International.

It is usually found in dry, open country with scattered trees and in wadis, gardens and farmland.

It feeds mainly on flying insects taken in sallies from a prominent perch but they also eat beetles, termites, spiders and caterpillars.

It nests in a burrow about 1 to 2 metres long which they excavate in the ground.

Little Green Bee-eater, Dubai Pivot Fields, Dubai, November 2010 - click for larger image Photo 4 shows an Arabian Green Bee-eater alongside a Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis.

Many authorities include this species as a sub-species of Green Bee-eater M. orientalis but the HBW and Birdlife International checklist separates it on the basis of its shorter central tail feathers, its blue forehead, supercilium and throat and its broader black breast band.

Little Green Bee-eater, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, March 2010 - click for larger image
Little Green Bee-eater, Dubai Pivot Fields, Dubai, November 2010 - click for larger image
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