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EUROPEAN BEE-EATER
  Bird Call
| Characteristics: |
27 to 29 cm long. Strikingly colourful plumage that cannot be mistaken with that any other European bird. Yellow throat, turquoise breast, auburn to yellowish head and back. Pointed, triangular wings, elongated central tail feathers (shorter in juveniles). |
| Call: |
Highly distinctive; a soft, rolling, low-pitched prrup, prrup audible over quite a distance and usually the first indication of the presence of Bee-eaters.
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| Habitat: |
Open and diversified landscapes with trees and bushes.
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| Distribution: |
Common throughout Southern Europe and Asia (as far as India) and also in Northwest Africa and South Africa. A rare visitor to Britain, but has bred on a few occasions.
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| Biology: |
Feeds on insects (including stinging insects such as bees - hence the name!) that are captured during flight. Breeds in earth banks; males and females dig an approx. 1.5 m long tunnel, the end of which they expand to make a breeding chamber. It lays 5 to 7 round, white, shining eggs. Clutches from May; 1 clutch a year.
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