CreatureData

Chestnut-headed bee-eater

Merops leschenaulti Vieillot, 1817

LCLeast Concernbirds

The chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti) is a species in the family Meropidae, order Coraciiformes. Recorded adults weigh 27.2 g to 27.6 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti)
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the chestnut-headed bee-eater

Weight
27.2 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
woodlandsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
5 – 5.7src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the chestnut-headed bee-eater live?

Not recorded

What is the chestnut-headed bee-eater?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti), or bay-headed bee-eater, is a bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It breeds on the Indian subcontinent and adjoining regions, ranging from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka across Southeast Asia to Indonesia.

This species, like other bee-eaters, is a richly coloured, slender bird. It is predominantly green, with blue on the rump and lower belly. Its face and throat are yellow with a black eye stripe, and the crown and nape are rich chestnut. The thin curved bill is black. Sexes are alike, but young birds are duller. It is 18–20 cm long and lacks the two elongated central tail feathers possessed by most of its relatives.

From the Wikipedia article “Chestnut-headed bee-eater” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chestnut-headed_bee-eater&oldid=1355113052), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the chestnut-headed bee-eater endangered?

The chestnut-headed bee-eater is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the chestnut-headed bee-eater classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCoraciiformes
  5. familyMeropidae
  6. genusMerops
  7. SpeciesMerops leschenaulti Vieillot, 1817
Other names and names in other languages (46)
  • وروار كستنائي الرأسArabic
  • Кафявоглав пчелоядBulgarian
  • খয়রামাথা সুইচোরাBangla
  • abellerol cap-rogencCatalan
  • vlha hnědohlaváCzech
  • gwenynysor penwinauWelsh
  • RustbiæderDanish
  • BraunkopfspintGerman
  • brunkapa abelmanĝuloEsperanto
  • Abejaruco cabecirrufoSpanish
  • ida-mesilasenäppEstonian
  • kastanjamehiläissyöjäFinnish
  • Guêpier de LeschenaultFrench
  • riđoleđa pčelaricaCroatian
  • barnafejű gyurgyalagHungarian
  • Kirik-kirik senjaIndonesian
  • Gruccione testacastanaItalian
  • Gruccione testacastana di LeschenaultItalian
  • チャガシラハチクイJapanese
  • ត្រដេវក្បាលត្នោតខ្ចីKhmer
  • rudagalvis bitininkasLithuanian
  • ചെന്തലയൻ വേലിത്തത്തMalayalam
  • ചെന്തലയന് വേലിത്തത്തMalayalam
  • बदामी डोक्याचा राघूMarathi
  • Burung Berek-berek SenjaMalay
  • ငှက်ပုစဉ်းထိုးBurmese
  • कटुसटाउके मुरलीचराNepali
  • BruinkopbijeneterDutch
  • bengalbieterNorwegian
  • żołna obrożnaPolish
  • کیسری مکھی کھاناWestern Panjabi
  • abelharuco-acastanhadoPortuguese
  • abelharuco-de-cabeça-castanhaPortuguese
  • Буроголовая щуркаRussian
  • včelárik hnedohlavýSlovak
  • ogrličasti čebelarSlovenian
  • Pčelarica kestenjaste glaveSerbian
  • rosthuvad biätareSwedish
  • செந்தலைப் பஞ்சுருட்டான்Tamil
  • นกจาบคาหัวสีส้มThai
  • Al Başlı ArıkuşuTurkish
  • бджолоїдка індійськаUkrainian
  • Trảu họng vàngVietnamese
  • 栗头蜂虎Chinese
  • 栗頭蜂虎Chinese
  • 黑胸蜂虎Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the chestnut-headed bee-eater

Other species in the same genus Merops.

CompareChestnut-headed bee-eater vs European bee-eaterChestnut-headed bee-eater vs Asian green bee-eaterChestnut-headed bee-eater vs Blue-cheeked bee-eaterChestnut-headed bee-eater vs Blue-tailed bee-eater

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the chestnut-headed bee-eater?

An adult chestnut-headed bee-eater weighs 27.2 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the chestnut-headed bee-eater endangered?

The chestnut-headed bee-eater is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the chestnut-headed bee-eater?

The chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti) belongs to the family Meropidae in the order Coraciiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/chestnut-headed-bee-eater

MLA

“Chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/chestnut-headed-bee-eater.

BibTeX
@misc{chestnut_headed_bee_eater_2026,
  title = {Chestnut-headed bee-eater (Merops leschenaulti)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/chestnut-headed-bee-eater},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}