Description
Swallow-tailed bee-eater, Merops hirundineus, at Elephant Sands Lodge, Botswana
Date 18 December 2016, 07:10
Source Swallow-tailed bee-eater, Merops hirundineus, at Elephant Sands Lodge, Botswana
Author Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa https://www.flickr.com/people/93242958@N00
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swallow-tailed_bee-eater,_Merops_hirundineus,_at_Elephant_Sands_Lodge,_Botswana_(31445018704).jpg

The swallow-tailed bee-eater (Merops hirundineus) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It breeds in savannah woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. It is partially migratory, moving in response to rainfall patterns. These bee-eaters are nesting as pairs or in very small colonies in sandy banks, or similar flat ground. They make a relatively long tunnel in which the 2 to 4 spherical, white eggs are laid. These birds also feed and roost communally.
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Meropidae
Genus: Merops
Species: Merops hirundineus Lichtenstein, 1793
Synonyms: Dicrocercus hirundineus