More Rainbow Bee-eater Imagery

[digartal]

The first AV consists of just over 1200 images taken in the morning over a period of approximately 65 minutes.

The Australian rainbow bee-eater has a unique method of preparing prey by rubbing venomous insects on a branch to remove stingers. They can consume up to 300 insects daily, which minimizes their need for drinking water. In this AV you will see them fly off and catch insects near the roosting branch. Sometimes seen hitting the insect on the branch to remove the sting. Additionally, communal colonies are now common in the area in summer, where sandy soil is perfect nesting material. Sometimes creating tunnels up to 1.6 meters long, and their mating is monogamous, with pairs potentially returning to the same nesting sites year after year. Often, juvenile birds from a previous brood assist the parents in feeding the next lot of chicks. You will see up to 4 birds that were feeding the same nest. While capturing the sequence for this AV, I witnessed the family bomb diving a small snake that ventured into the area. This is a very short AV with limited display time for each image.

The second AV has about 180 images from the time-lapse of the birds in flight. I struggled with the number of images from the series and the duration of the AV to hold the viewers' attention. The duration of this AV is around 4 mins and 37 secs.

I was back at the nesting site this morning to get some more images, as they are very restful to watch them come and go.

Mark