Blue-cheeked pint
| Blue-cheeked pint | ||||||||||||
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Blue-cheeked pint ( Merops persicus ) |
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| Merops persicus | ||||||||||||
| Pallas , 1773 |
The blue-cheeked pint ( Merops persicus ) is a bird of the genus ( Merops ) and family of the bee-eater (Meropidae). It occurs in North Africa and in South and Western Asia .
Appearance
The blue-cheeked pint is green on the underside of the trunk, its throat is bright rust-colored. The top and the wings are iridescent dark and olive green , as is the crown. The area around the base of the beak is light yellow. A wide black blindfold extends from the base of the beak to just before the neck. The stripe above the eyes is white, the cheeks are pale blue. The tail is gray on the underside, the middle tail feathers have greatly elongated feather shafts , which, as pointed extensions, make up about a third of the tail length. The under tail-coverts are pale light green. The legs are dark and the iris is reddish brown.
Possible confusion
Migratory birds high in the sky can be confused with the European bee-eater , in Africa with the Madagascar spint and in northwest India with the blue-tailed spint .
Habitat and Distribution
As a bird on the edge of the desert, the blue-cheeked moth breeds on sandy or gravel-covered rivers and winters in bushy grasslands and in cultivated, open woodlands. It is rarely far from water and generally found below an altitude of 1500 meters.
It occurs from Morocco and Algeria via Turkey and northern Kazakhstan to the south of northwest India.
voice
The reputation of the blue-cheeked pint is very similar to that of the European bee-eater and consists of a rolling "diririp". The alarm call is a sharp "dik-dik-dik".
Subspecies
There are two known subspecies :
- M. p. persicus - breeds from the Nile Delta to Rajasthan and north to Lake Balkhash ; winters in East and South Africa . The top is grass green.
- M. p. chysocercus - breeds on the edge of the western Sahara and overwinters in West Africa . The top is golden green. Overall slightly smaller than M. p. persicus .
literature
- Fry, Fry and Harris: Kingfishers, Bee-eaters and Rollers. ISBN 0-7136-8028-8 .
Web links
- Merops persicus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on December 18 of 2008.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Merops persicus in the Internet Bird Collection