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 do they really count? (As this Bee-Eater demonstrates…)

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) with full moon at sunset, Pine Creek, Australia