Search

Little Green Bee-eaters taking a sand bath

on 2nd May 2013

Jude Perera of Sri Lanka captured this video of a small flock of Little Green Bee-eaters (Merops orientalis) taking a sand bath in the Wilpattu National Park. Each bee-eater makes a small depression on the sand as it fluffs about to allow the sand to get between the feathers. This is part of its regular feather maintenance that includes preening and water bath.

The Little Green Bee-eater is common almost everywhere in dry-zone low country in Sri Lanka.

Over in Singapore and Malaysia, it is usual to see Eurasian Tree-sarrows (Passer montanus) indulge in such behaviour LINK.

The video was made known to BESG by Jeremiah Loei. We thank Jude for giving us permission to show the video on this website.

Jude Perera
Sri Lanka
May 2013

If you like this post please tap on the Like button at the left bottom of page. Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors/contributors, and are not endorsed by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM, NUS) or its affiliated institutions. Readers are encouraged to use their discretion before making any decisions or judgements based on the information presented.

YC Wee

Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.

Other posts by YC Wee

3 Responses

  1. Awesome sight! Thanks for sharing this wonderful video of so many bee-eaters having a communal sand bath.

Leave a Reply to Dan Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories
Archives

Overall visits (since 2005)

Live visitors
844
17685
Visitors Today
51790812
Total
Visitors

Clustrmaps (since 2016)