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| Blue-tailed Bee-eater Merops philippinus javanicus
- Sun bathing |
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| Photographer : | © Navendu Laad |
| Location : | Morshi, Amaravati, Maharashtra, India |
| Date : |
2005 |
| English synonyms: | Green-headed Bee-eater, Brown-breasted Bee-eater |
| Bird Family : | Meropidae - Bee-eaters |
| Bird Group : | CORACIIFORMES |
| Red Data Status : | Least Concern |
| Remarks : | Blue-tailed Bee-eaters regularly breed in northern India. During the last 30 years many irrigation projects have come up. Downstream of the Dams soil gets accumulated in the river bed and is not washed off because there are no floods in the river bed few kilometres downstream. Consequently there is good grass-growth in the river bed resulting in a good insect population. The bee-eaters find places for nest building also. Many breeding colonies have come up in such areas.
If there is excessive rain in the catchment area, water is released from the dam which washes away the soil downstream. There is no grass-growth and therefore no insect population. The Bee-eaters then do not occupy the area for breeding and go elsewhere.
An irrigation dam near Morshi in Amravati District of Maharashtra state is a typical case. There used to be a breeding colony of bee-eaters there until 2005. Due to floods, the area is no longer suitable for breeding colonies and therefore there has been no breeding in that area for the last three years.
The Bee-eater photographs included two photographs of courtship display. It is amusing to see the birds making all sorts of funny movements.
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