Merops ornatus

This bird was photographed while visiting
Litchfield National Park in the Northern Territory

other names
Australian Bee-Eater or Rainbow-Bird

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DESCRIPTION

Length between 210 and 240mm, including two central tail feathers which extend 20 to 40mm beyond base of tail. Sexes similar, female slightly duller in colour and with a shorter, thicker tail. Golden crown grading to light rufous on nape. Back and wing coverts golden-green, rump sky blue. Flight feathers russet-green tipped with black. The innermost secondary feathers are blue-green. Underwing rufous-buff. Face has broad black strip across eye edged turquoise blue above and below. Chin yellow grading to rufous-yellow on upper neck. Thick black bar across lower neck. Breast is golden-green grading to pale blue-green on belly, undertail coverts are sky-blue and tail is bluish-black. Crimson eye. Claws black.

Juvenile: As adult but duller in colour. Head and back dull greyish-green; neck buff-yellow without black bar; breast and belly grey-green; no extended central tail feathers; eye brown. Young obtain adult colours in the winter of their first year.

Voice: Constant, high-pitched chirruping, sounding similar to a sports whistle. Call is mainly during flight and is given by all birds.

Rainbow Bee-Eaters are migratory birds and at different times of the year can be found over much of Australia in dry Australian woodlands. They are communal birds, whether in their breeding grounds across the southern and central areas of Australia, or in their winter quarters in far northern Australia and islands beyond. Groups of 20 to 30 birds (sometimes more) fly in loose parties when migrating, calling constantly to each other. They roost together at night, cramming into a small space, often in small shrubby trees. By day, Rainbow Bee-Eaters spend time perching on bare branches and sometimes on the ground watching for insects, when these are spied the bird makes spectacular convoluted aerial sallies to catch prey midair. They are elegant fliers with broad but pointed wings on which they flutter, glide, twist, cartwheel and swoop with ease. Natural diet consists of venomous Hymenoptera (wasps and bees) and also dragonflies, damsel flies, beetles and other flying insects of similar size. Snapping prey on the wing, the bird then flies back to a bare branch where it batters and squeezes the insect to remove any sting before eating it. Sociality peaks during the breeding season which is between November and January in the south, and just before and after extended wet season in the north but normally September to October and May to July. Birds help one another to dig nesting burrows in sandy banks that are a metre or more long and slightly wider than the birds body, ending in an unlined egg chamber. Burrows are dug with the bill and scraped out with the feed. Between three and seven eggs are laid in one brood, with eggs being laid at intervals of 2 days. Eggs are incubated between 21 and 25 days. The jobs of incubation, brooding and feeding the young are shared - up to eight birds have been witnessed tending to one nest (Readers Digest, Complete Book of Australian Birds). Much of this help comes from unmated males (usually young birds) which outnumber female birds by about three to two. Young fledge at around four weeks.