A Free Lunch by Ken _Gilliland
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Description
"Maybe there is such a thing as a free lunch..." wonders the bee-eater as an errant honeybee flutters past his perch.
The Rainbow Bee-eater breeds in Australia, including Rottnest Island (southwestern Western Australia) and the southwestern islands in Torres Strait, and in eastern New Guinea (Port Moresby area and Ramu Valley) and in the eastern Lesser Sundas. Southern populations winter in the northern part of their breeding range, mainly in and around New Guinea, westward throughout Wallacea.
It prefers sandy pastures, farmlands, lightly wooded savanna, wooded environs of creeks and lakes, parks, gardens and green suburban areas.
It eats flying insects, especially bees, but will also take beetles, bugs, flies, moths, butterflies, orthopterans, dragonflies and damselflies, all captured on the wing in forays from a leafy or leafless tree or telephone wire. It has also been known to take spiders.
Rainbow bee-eaters are always watching for flying insects, and can spot a potential meal up to 150 feet away. Once it spots an insect a bee-eater will swoop down from its perch and catch it in its long, slender, black bill and fly back to its perch. Bee-eaters will then knock their prey against their perch to subdue it. Even though rainbow bee-eaters are actually immune to the stings of bees and wasps, upon capturing a bee they will rub the insect's stinger against their perch to remove it, closing their eyes to avoid being squirted with poison from the ruptured poison sac. Bee-eaters can eat several hundred bees a day, so they are obviously resented by beekeepers, but their damage is generally balanced by their role in keeping pest insects such as locusts, hornets, and wasps under control.
The rainbow bee-eater's two central tail feathers are longer than the other tail feathers, and are longer in the female rainbow bee-eaters than in the males. Like all bee-eaters, rainbow bee-eaters are very social birds. When they are not breeding they roost together in large groups in dense undergrowth or large trees.
Comments (5)
Paulienchen
Wou sieht ja super aus gefällt mir
Flint_Hawk
These colorful birds are absolutely amazing!
Annerose
It often happens by chance - and he got it! My comliment.
STEVIEUKWONDER
This scene has literally come to life Ken! Gorgeous work!
vikinglady
Wonderful avian having a snack. . 😋 Audubon would be proud.