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Australian Wildlife

  Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus)





Rainbow Bee-eater | Merops ornatus photo
Rainbow Bee-eater at Alice Springs Desert Park, Northern Territory, Australia.

Image by Richard Fisher from London, UK - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Rainbow Bee-eater | Merops ornatus photo
Rainbow Bee-eater perching on a drinking fountain at Centenary Lakes, Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Image by JJ Harrison (http://www.noodlesnacks.com/) - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

Rainbow Bee-eater | Merops ornatus photo
Merops ornatus in flight

Image by Reanimator86 - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







RAINBOW BEE-EATER FACTS

Description
The Rainbow Bee-eater is a brightly coloured bird with long curved bill and long tail streamers. Head is golden with black eye stripe and body is mostly green and blue. The bee-eater is a fast flier that flits around after insects.

Size
25cm to tip of tail

Habitat
open forests, woodlands and shrublands

Food
catches insects on the wing, mainly bees and wasps, also dragonflies, beetles, butterflies and moths

Breeding
Nests in sandy bank with long tunnel leading to a nesting chamber lined with grasses. Lays 4-8 eggs.

Range
mainland Australia, as well as eastern Indonesia, New Guinea

distribution map showing range of Merops ornatus in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Coraciiformes
Family:Meropidae
Genus:Merops
Species:ornatus
Common Name:Rainbow Bee-eater