Black Bee-eater

The Black Bee-eater (Merops gularis) is a species of bird in the Meropidae family.

Description

Black with scarlet chin and throat, streaked breast, pale blue eyebrow, belly, undertail-coverts and rump, rufous primaries.

Distribution

It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Uganda.

Subspecies

There are two subspecies:

• M.g. gularis - From Sierra Leone to southeast Nigeria - With the forehead blue, and a distinct bright cobalt-blue superciliary stripe. Some southeast Nigerian and west Cameroon birds are intermediate between this and M.g. australis
• M.g. australis - From southeast Nigeria to northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo, south to north Angola. - No superciliary stripe; forehead black, sometimes with a few blue feathers; the light azure-blue streaks on breast and even the belly are sometimes scarlet-tipped. Wing 5mm longer than the nominate subspecies.

References

• Fry, Fry and Harris, Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers (1992) ISBN 0-7136-1410-8
• BirdLife International 2004. Merops gularis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 24 July 2007.