Source: The Hindu

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Context :

• Recently, The 1st breeding site of the Blue-Cheeked Bee-eater (Merops persicus) in peninsular India has been discovered in the saltpans of Aandivilai near the Manakudy Mangroves in Kanniyakumari district.
• This discovery is significant as the Blue-Cheeked Bee-eater was previously known to be a passage migrant and winter visitor in India.

About Blue-Cheeked Bee-Eater

• The Blue-Cheeked Bee-eater is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family, Meropidae.
• Habitat: The bird favors sub-tropical semi-desert regions, such as acacias, for breeding.
• Behavior: It may choose to nest solitarily or in small, loose colonies of up to 10 individuals.
• It is also known to share colonies with European bee-eaters.
• Breeding Range: Its breeding was primarily recorded in regions such as the Nile Delta, Pakistan, and Iran, while its wintering grounds include parts of Africa.
• In its breeding grounds, this species occupies semi-desert, steppe, dunes, saline pans, cultivation, thorn woodland, and sandy slopes with small gulleys, ravines, quarries, pits, and embankments.
• But during the non-breeding season, it lives in a wide variety of greener habitats like savanna, broad river valleys, woods, lakeshores, swamps, ponds, dams, waterworks, and cultivation.

Conservation Status

• IUCN: The Blue-Cheeked Bee-eater is classified as Least Concern.

About Manakudy Mangroves

The Manakudy Mangroves are a coastal wetland forest in the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu, India. They are located on the southwest coast of India, about 10 km from Kanyakumari.

Source: 

The Hindu