FAMILY NAME: Meropidae SCIENTIFIC NAME: Merops ornatus SUBSPECIES: none
SIZE: 23 to 28cm. (9 to 11") tip to tail (including streamers).
LOCATION: Found throughout mainland Australia, but not in Tasmania or parts of central Western Australia. It enjoys open areas of woodland and scrub with sandy soils, and also beaches and sand dunes.
BREEDING: Breeding season in the south is from October to February, and in the north from September to October, and from May to July also. The usual clutch size is 4 to 5, laid in a burrow in sandy banks, which is often lined with grass. Both parents dig the burrow, incubate the eggs and care for the young.
GENERAL: Both sexes have similaar appearance, except that the female has shorter tail streamers, and more green on the forehead to the crown. Juvenile birds do not show the black crescent on the throat. They are insect eaters, often catching bees, wasps, dragonflies, moths and beetles, whilst in flight. Breeding populations remain in N. Australia all year, whilst other populations migrate south in the summer and north in the winter.
References:
Michael Morecombe. Field Guide to Australian Birds, Complete Compact Edtion.
Ken Simpson - Nicholas Day. The Birds of Australia.
M. Blakers - S. J. J. F. Davies - P. N. Reilly. The Atlas of Australian Birds.
Birds in Backyards. www.birdsinbackyards.net
