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Rainbow Bee-eater

Kingfishers, Bee-eaters & Rollers

Merops ornatus

Basic stats

Diet

Flying insects, especially bees and wasps

Habitat

Open country, coasts

Range

Australia and New Guinea; a rare vagrant further north

Clutch size

4–6 eggs (on breeding grounds)

Incubation period

About 22–24 days

Size

Medium (22–28cm including streamers)

Wingspan

~28–30cm

Weight

~25–35g

A slender, multi-coloured bee-eater with a black eye-stripe, blue-green body and elongated tail streamers, breeding across Australia and New Guinea and appearing in Borneo only as a Rare/Accidental vagrant.

Hawks bees, wasps and other flying insects on the wing, and any occurrence this far from its normal range represents a notable extralimital wanderer rather than a regular visitor.

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