European Bee-eater

The European bee-eater is a slender, vividly patterned bird with brown and yellow upperparts, green wings and a long black bill. Adults measure twenty-seven to twenty-nine centimetres, including the elongated central tail feathers, and weigh forty-four to seventy-eight grams. Males and females look similar, although females tend to show greener shoulders. Outside the breeding season the colours become duller, the back appears blue-green, and the long central tail feathers are absent, changing the bird's usual pointed silhouette. (Wikipedia, general species account)

The species breeds across southern and central Europe, parts of northern and southern Africa, and western Asia. Apart from the resident population in southern Africa, it is strongly migratory and winters in tropical Africa. European bee-eaters capture insects in flight, especially bees, wasps and hornets. Before swallowing a stinging insect, a bird may repeatedly strike and rub it against a perch to discharge the sting and remove venom. Nesting pairs excavate burrows in sandy banks, often close to other pairs in colonies. (Wikipedia, general species account)