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Bird

Green bee-eater

Merops orientalis

IUCN: Least Concern
A green bee-eater perched on a wire against a pale blue sky with an insect in its beak

Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Nemi Nagar Extension, Jaipur, Rajasthan · Resized

A green bee-eater perched on a wire against a blue sky, holding an insect in its beak

Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Nemi Nagar Extension, Jaipur, Rajasthan · Resized

Scientific name
Merops orientalis
Family
Meropidae, order Coraciiformes
Group
Bird
Conservation status
Least Concern

A shimmering green bird that dines on bees in mid-air.

  • Spot it Bright green body, blue chin and a thin black eye-line.
  • Home Open land and overhead wires.
  • Food web Catches bees, wasps and dragonflies and rubs off stings.
  • Why it matters Eats bees, wasps and other flying insects, keeping them in balance, and is prey for hawks.

Read more: Asian green bee-eater on Wikipedia

Sources and credits

Records and field notes

  • JaipurDevendra Bhardwaj photographed a green bee-eater at Nemi Nagar Extension, Jaipur, in July 2020. His note for the photo reads “With Honey Bee”.[20]
  • JaipurHis iNaturalist account holds two verified green bee-eater records, both in his Jaipur neighbourhood.[20]

Sources

  1. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (species pages linked on each entry) (database). Global conservation status. Every species page was opened.
  2. Devendra Bhardwaj. iNaturalist observations and notes, with place and date (inaturalist.org/people/devendrabhardwaj) (field record). The observer's own dated records and notes, with places. Statements in his notes are his own and were not independently checked by KJVF.
  3. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF species data (family, order, Hindi names, IUCN category) (database). Open biodiversity data. Used for classification, Hindi common names and the IUCN category where one is given.
  4. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (opening lines of each species article, CC BY-SA 4.0). The link on each entry goes to the article (reference). Not peer reviewed. Only the opening description is used, and statements about origin or medicinal use are left out.
  5. Short introductions and key points written with AI help (Google Gemini and Claude) and checked against GBIF where possible (reference). AI-assisted text for general readers. Please check important details before relying on them.

The tag before each record shows the place it was checked for.

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