Green Bee Eater

Description:

This is a small and particularly beautiful bee-eater. They are agile aerial predators and will catch insects on the wing. If they catch a bee or other stinging insect they will return to a perch and bang their quarry against a branch, removing the stinger and squeezing it to squirt out the venom before eating it.

Notes:

This was found outside of Dendera Temple, near Luxor and was a nice bit of colour amongst the drab ruins! The north African subspecies (pictured) has a green throat but that of the Arabian subspecies is a brilliant bright blue.