It breeds on the Indian subcontinent and adjoining regions, ranging from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka across Southeast Asia to Indonesia.

Its face and throat are yellow with a black eye stripe, and the crown and nape are rich chestnut.

It is 18–20 cm long and lacks the two elongated central tail feathers possessed by most of its relatives.

The chestnut-headed bee-eater was formally described in 1817 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot under the current binomial name Merops leschenaulti.

[2][3] The specific epithet was chosen to honour the French naturalist and collector Jean-Baptiste Leschenault de La Tour who had brought Vieillot's specimen to France.

[6] The Javan sub-species, M. l. quinticolor, differs in having the space from the bill down to the black pectoral band pure yellow without any chestnut, and in having an entirely blue tail.

[6] As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch.