A little green bee-eater sat on a telephone line against a vivid blue sky in India.

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Near passerine or higher land-bird assemblage are terms often given to arboreal birds. The Little Green Bee-eater, Merops orientalis, is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family. It is resident in a belt across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and The Gambia to Ethiopia, the Nile valley, western Arabia and Asia through India to Vietnam. This species should not be confused with the Little Bee-eater, Merops pusillus. The feet are weak with the three toes joined at the Asian birds have rufous crown and face, and green underparts, whereas Arabian beludschicus has a green crown, blue face and bluish underparts. The wings are green and the beak is black. The elongated tail feathers are absent in juveniles. Sexes are alike

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Size: 5201px × 3466px
Location: India
Photo credit: © Brian Perry / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: arboreal, belly, bill, birds, black, blue, breast, bright, central, chin, coverts, crimson, crown, dark, ear, elongated, feathers, flank, foot, forehead, golden, green, grey, india, iris, land, legs, line, lores, mantle, merops, migrators, nape, neck, nesters, orientalis, outer, perching, plumage, primaries, quill, rufous, rump, scapulars, secondaries, sitting, solitary, tail, tail-feathers, tarsus, throat, tinged, upper, vent, wing