We have an earlier post on the Blue-throated Bee-eaters (Merops viridis) taking a sunbath. The bee-eater was lying on the ground with wings outstretched, tail feathers fanned out and bill wide open, panting.

Now, Mike Tan a.k.a. woof has provided us with a clear image of the bee-eater doing the same, with its head pointing upwards. It is sunbathing, one of many ways of keeping the feathers in top form. The bird is at the same time panting, to get rid of excess heat.

John Vickerman adds that the basic function of sun-exposure apparently lies in the beneficial effects of feather maintenance with the sun’s heat being directed mainly onto the spread wings and tail feathers. John’s research also suggests that sun-exposure increases the flow of preen-oil.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

Adrian Lim’s a.k.a wmw998 photograph of a Blue-bearded Bee-eater (Nyctyornis athertoni) taking a carpenter bee (Xylocopa sp.) shows an uncommon side of the bird – uncommon for us anyway. The name bee-eater obviously refers to its favourite food, bees. After all, bee-eaters are experts at handling bees, bashing and rubbing them against the branch of their perch to remove the deadly sting.

We have an earlier post of bee-eaters taking bee and wasp, but a carpenter bee? This is a very much larger bee that lives in burrows made in dead wood and untreated timber beams of houses. Such a large bee appears to be less commonly taken by these birds – or is it because they are not as often photographed, like dragonflies?

Yes, bee-eaters are a favourite subject of photographers, who love to show these birds catching them on the wing to expertly manipulate them before swallowing. As a result, there will be many who are convinced that bee-eaters prefer dragonflies to bees. And this may well be so, unless we have quantitative data to prove otherwise.

Image by Adrian Lim.

This post is a cooperative effort between NaturePixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

Lim Seik Ni and Tan Hwee Miem reported that Blue-throated Bee-eaters (Merops viridis) have been visiting their campus at the University Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Serdang, Malaysia from mid-April to end of September. They managed to locate their breeding ground at the campus area where they observed the bee-eaters’ behaviour.

What fascinated them as well as their birding seniors were the ways the birds sunbathed, especially the different postures taken. The birds laid on the flat ground spread-eagled with wings expanded and tail feathers spread, panting at the same time (top left). The neck may be inclined to one side with the feathers fluffed (above right).

In the above images, the bee-eater appears to be taking a sand bath, lying with the the feathers fluffed, neck exposed to the sun and bill open. In the centre image the open bill is pointing upwards.

According to Fry (2001), bee-eaters take sun bathe, dust bathing and water bathing. Sunning can take place at odd hours of the day. Extending the neck to one side to expose the feathers to the sun has been termed as “broken-necked” posture.

These are various ways of maintaining the feathers that include preening and water bathing. Earlier posts include sunbathing on a television antenna.



Reference:
Fry, C. H., 2001. Family Meropidae (Bee-eaters). In: del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott & J. Sargatal (eds.), Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 6. Mousebirds to Hornbills. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Pp. 286-341.

A pair of Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti leschenaulti), also known as Bay-headed was nesting in a cavity dug on a slope of a cleared ground about 30 metres from a disused mining pool. The area, near Chemor in Perak, Malaysia, was a sandy open ground with scrub cover. Trees were only seen nearer to the pool.

First sighted a week earlier, the nest was carefully monitored on 21st March 2010 from a distance of 20-30 metres away. Even then, Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS had to have a crude ‘camouflage’ cloth over him in order not to distract the birds.

The adults were repeatedly bringing food to the chicks – dragonflies mainly, always with wings still on (above). On 29th March the chicks were still inside the nest and the adults were constantly delivering food, again, mainly dragonflies. Based on images taken from a distance, the dragonflies could be of the family Libelluilidae, possibly Urothemis signata and Orthetrum sabina, based on the brown wings and red, stocky body

The adults only approached the nest if Amar was at least 25 meters away and either hidden among the vegetation or inside his car. The birds appeared to be disturbed by the presence of the camera.

Usually, an adult arrived with food and within 30 seconds the other would come. However, there were at least five instances during the 2.5 hours of stakeout when one arrived while the other was still inside the nest (above). The newly arrived adult entered the nest only to find its mate inside. It then had to back out, fly off temporarily to allow the mate to leave before returning to feed the chicks. This could be because of the presence of Amar. When observations were made inside the car parked at a distance, food deliveries were smooth. As soon as an adult arrived, it would call to alert the other inside the nest, who would then leave, allowing clear passage for the newly arrival to enter the nest.

One of the adults usually reversed out of the nest when leaving while the other came out headfirst. Or it could be that an adult either reverse out or came out headfirst.

On 3rd April, with the chicks now about 14-21 days old, it would probably take another 7-14 days before fledging. The rate of feeding, observed during one mid-morning (0830-1200 hours) when there were no disturbances and observed from the car used as a hide, is: mean 91.5 seconds (n=20, range=30-180 seconds std. dev.=61.9). However, whenever there was a disturbance, feeding could be halted for up to 15 minutes. The rate of feeding here is compared to that for the Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis) of every 30 minutes (Wells, 1999).

It is also possible that feeding regularity varies with the time of day and the availability of food, although there was no short of supply of dragonflies in the area.

The final visit to the site on 11th April saw the chicks (at least two) with the adults in a tree about 30 metres away. This allowed detailed measurements of the nest and nesting site (above). Another nest was sighted about 5 metres from the first, not noticed earlier as it was hidden from view. Was this a new or an old nest? At the same time, a pair of Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis) in breeding plumage was seen around. Were they using this second nest? Or was this an earlier attempt to nest by the Chestnut-throated Bee-eaters or a new nest excavated to prepare it for a new brood?

The first nesting hole extends more than 0.5 metres into the ground, sloping downwards before going upwards. No attempt was made to probe with a metal tape for total depth as the nest could still be used after the chicks fledged (Connie Khoo, pers. obs.). The nest entrance, 14 cm from the top, measures 10 x 6 cm. The entire slope surface of the nest site has an incline of 5º and measures 32 cm.

The calls of the Chestnut-headed Bee-eater can be heard HERE.

Dr. Sudhanshu Kothe of Nagpur, India documented the casting of a pellet by a Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis). He was at Jaikwadi Lake in Maharashtra on 9th January 2010 when he captured the sequential images of the casting. The bee-eater gaped widely (above left) before a dark pellet appeared above its tongue (above right). The bird then lowered its head somewhat and the oval pellet dropped to the ground (below).

The pellet was located on the ground below where the bee-eater was perching (below).

We have earlier posted pellet casting by a Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus) and a Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis). With this Green Bee-eater, we now have photographic documentation of three species of bee-eaters.

For information on pellet casting by other species of birds, download the paper summarising our knowledge on local birds HERE.

Copyright images by Dr. Sudhanshu Kothe.