Rainbow Bee-eater

[digartal]

Here are a couple of short AV's of consecutive images of Rainbow Bee-eaters coming in to feed chicks in the nest. 

The rainbow bee-eater is the only species of bee-eater found in Australia and is monotypic, meaning it has no accepted subspecies. Its closest relative is most likely the olive bee-eater (Merops superciliosus) of southern and eastern Africa, but molecular phylogenetic analysis places the rainbow bee-eater as the closest relative to the European bee-eater. It was first described by John Latham in 1801. The generic name is Ancient Greek merops, which means 'bee-eater' and the specific epithet is Latin ornatus 'ornate, adorned'. The birds do not only eat bees with other insects part of their diet, including dragonflies, march flies, damselflies and other flying insects.

The nest's end is large enough to fit two adult birds and the chicks. The birds also rely on adolescent chicks from a previous clutch to feed the new brood. This particular nest had 4 birds providing food for the chicks. The birds generally land on a nearby branch as a lookout perch. I had placed a dead branch on a dead tree as a lookout perch. Often, taking some time to peruse the area and be comfortable, it is safe to enter the nest.  They do become comfortable with people/photographers and are always on the lookout for other birds and snakes as they nest in the ground.

I had hoped to record the unusual sound of the birds calling, but this generally happens in flight while chasing insects. Unfortunately, there is too much background noise.

The first one is a flyover and the second one shows the bird disappearing down the nest in the ground.

 

Regards

Mark

[Rosemary A]

 Hi Digatral, Thank you for sharing these two beautiful videos and for the information about them. Always great to learn about other bird species.

Rosemary

[digartal]

5 hours ago, Rosemary A said:

 Hi Digatral, Thank you for sharing these two beautiful videos and for the information about them. Always great to learn about other bird species.

Rosemary

Hi Rosemary, glad you enjoyed it. Luckily they are found near my home.

Mark