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Rainbow Bee-eater
Female, Front
Rainbow Bee-eater
Female, Back
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| Rainbow Bee-eater Female, Front | | Rainbow Bee-eater Female, Back | | ||
-ornatus.JPG "Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops (Merops) ornatus)") | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Birds (Aves) | |||
| Order: | Kingfishers (Coraciiformes) | ||||
| Family: | Bee-eater (Meropidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops (Merops) ornatus) | ||||
| This Photo: | Female, profile | ||||
Thank you Petra Hanke for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Riverland and elsewhere One of the most colourful birds that visit. Smallish. Black, yellow, blue, green and brown / chestnut. Juveniles don't have the tail extension, while the female's is shorter than the male's. They make their nest underground. We've seen flocks of up to 12 bee-eaters, mostly juveniles, which has been a real treat for us. While the adults have red eyes, the juveniles we've seen have black eyes. They seem to ruffle their feathers, perhaps as some sort of defensive pose, or cooling? Or perhaps the bee gave him indigestion There was no wind in the photo's with the ruffled feathers. They look like woodswallows when in flight, but if the sun catches them, they are so beautiful with the chestnut under wing colours. | |||||
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