Blue-cheeked Bee-eater ( Merops persicus, family: meropidae)

blue cheeked bee eater kruger national park birds The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (Latin name Merops persicus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 440 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 191 also a picture of the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater on page 192. The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater belongs to the family of birds classified as meropidae.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Blue-cheeked Bee-eater : see above distribution map.

Blue Cheeked Bee Eater Kruger ParkIdentification assistance for this avian species ...

The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater is a bird about the same size as a starling. The height of the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater is about 26 cms and its weight is about 50 gms

You will find that the male Blue-cheeked Bee-eater plumage and colours are different to that of the female Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

  • Head is blue.
  • Eye is red.
  • Bill is black.
  • Throat is reddish brown.
  • Back is green.
  • Legs are grey.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater feeds on the ground mainly

Invertebrates

Aquatic life forms

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater is extra limital

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

You will normally see the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in flocks.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... isiThwelathwela

Afrikaans ...Blouwangbyvreter

German ... Blauwangenspint

Portuguese ... Abelharuco-persa

French ... Gupier de Perse

Dutch ... Groene Bijeneter

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 440

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za