The brightly-coloured Rainbow Bee-Eater is one of the world’s most stunning birds. Their diet consists of a variety of insects, but as the name suggests, they have a particular penchant for bees. Rainbow Bee-Eaters can eat several hundred bees in a day, and despite being immune to their stings, will rub the bee against their perch to remove the stinger, and close their eyes to avoid the bee’s venom.

Rainbow Bee-Eaters are one of the most beautiful birds in Australia, and are found right across the country – well, except Tassie, but did you really want to go there anyway?* This particular Bee-Eater is attempting to demonstrate this fact by perching on branches that roughly form an outline of the Australian coast (again, with the notable exception of Tasmania).

Divorce rates among Rainbow Bee-Eaters remain low in comparison to the rest of the animal kingdom, with the majority mating for life. Bee-Eaters nest in burrows on the ground, and after working together to select a nesting site, the male then leaves the female to dig the burrow all by herself (not a simple task when you don’t have hands). All romance is not lost, however, as the male provides a steady supply of insects for the hardworking female as she prepares their nest – and both parents play an equal role in incubating the eggs and raising the chicks.

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Rainbow Bee-Eater (Merops ornatus), Cairns Botanical Gardens, Australia

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PS. To any angry Tasmanians, the Bee-Eater made me do it. Direct your anger at him, not me.