Green bee-eater (Juvenile): Merops orientalis ssp.orientalis

Green bee-eater (Juvenile): Merops orientalis ssp.orientalis
(with dragonfly catch)

 

Green bee-eater (Juvenile): Merops orientalis ssp.orientalis

 

 

Green bee-eater: Merops orientalis ssp. orientalis

Gender: Both look alike.

Age: Juvenile

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Sighted at: Basai wetlands, Distt. Gurgaon, Haryana, India.

Date: 27.6.2015

Birding is also ruminative besides the thrill and excitement of spotting. Every now and then it throws at the eye a bird, a situation, which urges a reappraisal, a second glance - removing the cataractous opacity towards ‘commoners’ developing in the birder’s eye with each passing sortie. It was so with this member and I.

A Green bee-eater dived from a branch, caught a dragonfly and returned to its perch. All in an instant. I had already passed by the bird and wouldn’t have turned to look again if a Yellow-bellied prinia hadn’t struck out with a song. I caught the action and was mildly thrilled at recording a portion of the hunt. After all, we see many such hunts in birding and GBE hunting forays have been well observed.

However, when the photo is opened in the computer, the dull eye blinks once, blinks twice and forces the head to lean forwards and peer closely – Is that a juvenile? Is that a juvenile of the beludschicus sub-species or an orientalis orientalis? A small question consumes an hour of research on a commoner to find an answer. Never take birds for granted.

The square-ended tail instead of an elongated one of the adult; a green  crown and mantle; a pale yellowish or green throat lacking the black gorget of adult, all point to a juvenile. I did not have a photograph of a juvenile before now.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom	-	Animalia
Phylum	-	Chordata
Class	-	Aves
Order	-	Coraciformes
Family	-	Meropidae
Genus	-	Merops
Species	-	orientalis
Sub-species	-	orientalis

 

There are many subspecies.

Photographed at Basai-Dhankot wetlands, Distt. Gurgaon, Haryana, India, on 27^th June, 2015, using a Nikon D7200 camera and Tamron 150-600 mm lens.

 

-          Prashant V Tenjarla