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Hi everybody, Here's the Slideshow with the couple of Styles. Someone may find them useful. The link to the You Tube video and downloading files provided. Just replace Placeholders with Photo or Video of your choice. Best Alex55

Thanks very nice as usual!

The Rainbow Bee-eater is found throughout mainland Australia, as well as eastern Indonesia, New Guinea and, rarely, the Solomon Islands. In Australia, it is widespread, except in desert areas, and breeds throughout most of its range, although southern birds move north to over winter. A rainbow bee-eater regurgitates a pellet of indigestible parts of its prey, like insect wings and exoskeletons, to expel them from its body. This is a normal and healthy process, not a sign of sickness. The pellets are often collected by scientists to analyze the bird's diet and monitor local insect populations. Rainbow bee-eater pellet diagnostics were introduced to the NBPSP program in 2022, following its success in detecting Asian honey bees during the National Varroa Mite Eradication Program (NVMEP) in Queensland, which concluded in 2019. This technique is now employed in both Queensland and the Northern Territory to help mitigate the risk of Asian honey bee incursions. During 2023 the QLD Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF) and the NT Department of Industry Tourism and Trade (NT DITT), respectively collected 30 and 18 rainbow bee-eater pellet samples, at ports as part of the NBPSP and no exotic bees were detected. “Over five years we collected 225,000 bird pellets which contained 1.6 million bee wings, of which 79 were identified as Asian honey bee wings,” Roger said. “Once Asian honey bee wings have been identified, other surveillance methods are used to find the nest. The birds definitely helped us to achieve eradication.”

Happy Wrensday The Superb Fairy-wren is found in open eucalypt woodland forests of south-eastern Australia. It inhabits dense understorey, and is usually seen in pairs or small groups. Also adapted to urban parks and gardens, and exotic weeds such as lantana. The breeding plumage of the male Superb Fairy-wren is unmistakable – a light blue cap, ear tufts, and cheeks; a black eye-stripe; dark blue-black throat; brown wings and white breast and belly. Beak of the adult male is black and legs are brown to dark brown. The adult female is mostly brown, with white throat, breast and belly. The beak is orange-red, with a similarly coloured eye-stripe; the tail is brown with a faint pale blue-grey tinge. The female has the same plumage year-round. The non-breeding adult male looks similar to the adult female, except that the male has a black beak, and navy-blue tail – the Superb Fairy-wren is the only species of fairy-wren where the non-breeding male has a navy blue tail. All other fairy-wren non-breeding males have much paler tail colouration. The species forages mostly on the ground, more so than other species of fairy-wren; also forages in low canopy areas of shrubs and trees. Eats mainly insects, including grasshoppers, ants, larvae, small seeds and fruits. Hops over ground and in shrubs and pounces on food.