Bee-eaters are so-named because they specialise in catching bees. In addition to bees, they also take carpenter bees, wasps, hornets… not to mention dragonflies, cicadas, beetles, ants, crickets, termites, butterflies, etc. Of these insects, bees, wasps and hornets are the most dangerous as they can give a nasty sting.
Photographers love to depict bee-eaters manipulating dragonflies before eating, as shown HERE. The resulting images are always colourful. Not so bees and other smaller insects.
Jeremiaj Loei‘s video clip of a Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus) bashing a hornet to remove its sting (below) before swallowing it is exciting to view, more so than viewing a series of images of the same activity. I suppose a video of a bee-eater manipulating a dragonfly will be just as exciting, if not more so.
Jeremiah Loei
Singapore
25th January 2018
This post is a cooperative effort between Birds, Insects N Creatures Of Asia and BESG to bring the study of birds and their behavior through photography and videography to a wider audience.
