• Blue-Throated •

Hey birdy~ 😍 Rare gems spotted during Sukau evening cruise, Blue-throated Bee-eaters resting on a tree branch in the middle of river 🐦 #beautifulbirdie . . . This very striking Blue-Throated Bee-Eater Merops viridis is common to the rivers and open lowland country of Borneo. It performs aerobatic flights at insects from its perch, each flight ever more graceful. On the Kinabatangan River, recent year’s breeding must have been particularly difficult. Lots of later than usual rainfall have damaged many of the sandy banks where the bird favours for its breeding ground. It is still a common bird, favouring the birdwatcher in many locations. Blue-throated Bee-eaters get their names from their diet of stinging insects (bees, wasps, hornets, ants). They specialise in catching and neutralising these titbits that other birds find unappetising or dangerous. But they also catch and eat other harmless insects especially dragonflies, and also grasshoppers, butterflies. Occasionally, they may eat small lizards and fish. Blue-throated Bee-eaters forage over the canopy of lowland forest, but also over mangroves, and relatively open habitats such as grasslands, marshes, beach scrub and even gardens and urban areas. They usually forage in pairs, sometimes in small groups, rarely above 15. But they may gather in flocks to hawk on swarming insects (termites, ants), together with Swifts and Swallows. But they roost together in trees in mangroves and forests. 📍Sukau Rain Forest Lodge, Sandakan, Sabah. #sukau #rivercruise #bluethroated #beeeater