#amazinganimals facts for kids
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The blue-tailed bee-eater is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia where many populations are strongly migratory, and seen seasonally in many parts but breeding colonially in small areas across their range, mostly in river valleys, where the nest by tunneling into loamy sand banks. They are seen mostly in open habitats close to water.
This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green; its face has a narrow blue patch with a black eye stripe, and a yellow and brown throat; the tail is blue and the beak is black. The three outer toes are united around their bases. It can reach a length of 23–26 cm, including the two elongated central tail feathers which can jut two inches more than the remaining ten feathers. Sexes are alike. This species is usually found near water and like other bee-eaters it predominantly eats flying insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. They may also forage in flight over estuaries, backwaters and even over the sea but not far from the coast. This species probably takes bees and dragonflies in roughly equal numbers. The insects that are caught are beaten on the perch to kill and break the exoskeleton. They call mainly in flight with a rolling chirping whistling teerp.
The species has a patchy breeding distribution across India, Myanmar, and parts of Southeast Asia. In India they are known to breed in several of the river valleys including those of the Godaavari, Kaaveri, Tungaa Badraa and Krishnaa rivers. They also nest in the eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
Blue-tailed bee-eaters are seasonal in many parts of their range and are known to migrate diurnally en masse at some places like Tanjung Tuan and Promsri Hill. They are winter visitors in parts of Malaysia and peninsular India. The non-breeding ranges of the blue-cheeked bee-eater and blue-tailed overlap in some parts of Gujaraath and western peninsular India.
