The cinnamon-chested bee-eater (''Merops oreobates'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family

Meropidae The bee-eaters are a group of non-passerine birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by ...

. They are found in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Description

The species measures in length and weighs .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . The sexes are alike. They have bright green heads, upper parts, and tails; their chins and throats are yellow and outlined in black, with a white extension to the side; their breasts are cinnamon-brown, darkening towards the belly. When perched, their stance is upright with the tail pointing downward. The tail is blackish with an orange base and white tip when seen from the front, while from the back it is mainly green, with black edges visible when it is flared. This bird can be distinguished from the somewhat similar little bee-eater by their larger size, darker colouring, white cheek patches, and the upland habitat where they are found.

Ecology

This bird lives in upland regions, usually between and can be found associated with wooded hillsides and forest edges, clearings, plantations, and gardens. Its diet consists mainly of honeybees although it also eat moths, butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, and other flying insects. It seems to be an adaptable species and able to withstand loss of its forest habitat.

Status

The cinnamon-chested bee-eater has a very wide range and although the population size has not been quantified, they are thought to be large, and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

has assessed their conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q572042

cinnamon-chested bee-eater The cinnamon-chested bee-eater (''Merops oreobates'') is a species of bird in the family Meropidae The bee-eaters are a group of non-passerine birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty species. Most species are found i ...

Birds of East Africa Fauna of Kenya Fauna of Uganda

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot