Rainbow Bee-Eater Species of Bird:

The Rainbow bee-eater is a bird that is completely true to its name because of its extremely colorful plumage and its ability to catch flying insects on the wing.



Though its diet is not strictly restricted to eating bees, as it will eat nearly any kind of flying insect as long as the prey is large enough, it has a special taste for bees and can consume hundreds of bees every day. This has earned the bird the scorn of bee keepers in the Australian outback but is yet considered an extremely important part of the ecology of the region because it does consume more harmful insects like locusts.



The bird is probably one of the many Australian indigenous species that is under threat from the spread of introduce populations of animals, especially the cane toad since its nests are often raided by this toad.

The Australian rainbow bee-eater is a small bird that measures eight inches in length from beak to tail feathers.



The female of the species has a larger set of tail feathers than the male. Once a pair of rainbow bee-eaters meets they become partners for life. As with other birds that follow this monogamous principle, the male of the species will fend for the female when the female has laid its eggs. The bird has some odd nesting habits. While a pair is not roosting, they are generally quite social and a collection on rainbow bee-eaters will form a large colony that will nest in trees or dense undergrowth. Things change after a couple mates and the birds will then change nesting habits to shift underground and the pair will then dig a nest underground. Curiously, the pair, after digging out a nest tunnel, will be more than happy to share the tunnel with other members of the species and also with other birds. Even more curious is the behavior of other birds of the species that have not nested towards the young of another couple and these birds will actually help in feeding the young despite it not being its own.

Rainbow bee-eaters feed exclusively on a diet of insects that fly. They are so specialized for this task that they can identify a flying insect from as far away as 150 feet. It will then capture its prey and then subdue the prey and remove its stinger before feeding on the meal. Rainbow bee-eaters migrate to the warmer northern areas of the country during winter.