I was up with the sun this morning at just after 6am (yes is gets light quite late here in Portugal in the summer) and went for a look at how the Bee Eater nests are doing.
When I arrived, I was lucky, there were no Bee Eaters present (above ground anyway), so I hid myself away under a tree (and camo netting) and waited.
Soon enough I was surrounded by Bee Eaters sitting on a nearby electric cable bringing food back to the tunnel nests. They look like they’ve struck gold and found Hornets and they were busy whacking the sting against the cable to break it off.
{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
I also managed to get an in-flight shot as one left one the the tunnel nests
I recorded a quick video of one of the Bee Eaters breaking the sting off a Hornet. As you can see in the video, the poor Hornet is still alive and wriggling, notice how the Bee Eater adjusts it’s grip to get a good strike.
{Remember to watch in HD if possible}