Mediterranean Pyrenees
  • Home
  • About
  • Galleries
    • Birds of the Mediterranean Pyrenees >
      • Common Birds of the Mediterranean Pyrenees by Isobel
    • Weather in the Mediterranean Pyrenees >
      • Weather: skies and storms in the Mediterranean Pyrenees
      • Clouds above the Mediterranean Pyrenees by Isobel
      • The summer of 2015 by Isobel
    • Bruce's Pix >
      • Beetles, Bugs and other insects
      • Birds
      • Butterflies
      • Butterflies of La Batère
      • Canigou
      • Castles
      • Dragonflies
      • Flowers
      • Pyrenees Landscapes
      • TGV
      • UK photos
    • Isobel's Images >
      • Isobel's favourite images
      • Springtime in an Alberes garden
      • In the garden
      • Tour de Batere, spring 2015 with Robin Noble
    • Lesley's Snaps >
      • Insects & Arachnids
      • Bees
      • Birds
      • Les Albères
      • Elsewhere in the region
    • Robin's Photos
    • Martine's Photos
    • GUESTS' Gallery
  • Birdsong
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Contact

Bee-eaters 

5/5/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
by Lesley McLaren

After Robin's comment about bee-eaters in his last blog, I can't resist posting this.

Their French name is Guêpiers (wasp-eaters) - but I think any insects are fair game to these gorgeous birds, after once seeing one with a big grasshopper in its beak.

This morning there were more of these than any other bird flying around and over the hillock at Canet St Nazaire. After a while I decided to stroll down for a closer view of whatever might be lurking in the grassland below and, as soon as I reached a little bridge across a stream, I was given a real treat: Fortunately for us, bee-eaters - when they settle at all - like to show off in dead trees and bushes and, for several minutes, I watched one such bush studded as with jewels by up to sixteen of these beauties at any one time. If you've got good eyesight(!) you might be able to spot fourteen in the photo below.


And here are a couple of short videos (with the usual apologies for woefully inadequate equipment and camera shake). Although the birds are distant (my camera was on maximum zoom!) and despite it being a dull day, their colours still shine out in the first clip and you can hear their familiar liquid trill.

I took the second clip of another group really to show their silhouette - something that we have to rely on so often for bird identification. (Both are clearer full screen.)

Bee eaters showing off from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

Bee eaters in silhouette from Lesley McLaren on Vimeo.

Picture



Shame the last bird in the second clip insisted on preening behind a branch. Here he/she is again, after - typically - emerging as soon as I stopped recording. For more bee-eater photographs, see Isobel's gallery.

And for more sightings at the hillock, see my next blog...
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Authors

    Bruce Hyde
    Isobel Mackintosh
    Lesley McLaren
    Robin Noble

    Archives

    August 2020
    May 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Amphibians
    Arachnids
    Birds
    Bruce Hyde
    Dragonfly Differences
    Insects
    Isobel Mackintosh
    Lesley McLaren
    Mammals
    Marine Life
    Misc
    Mushrooms & Fungi
    Plants
    Reptiles
    Robin Noble
    Sea & Coast
    Tracks/Traces
    Weather

    Click icon for notification of new posts
    Subscribe
Lesley McLaren, Bruce Hyde, Isobel Mackintosh, Robin Noble, Martine Howard, mediterraneanpyrenees.com associates and affiliates do not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, product or process disclosed. Lesley McLaren, Bruce Hyde, Isobel Mackintosh, Robin Noble, Martine Howard, mediterraneanpyrenees.com and affiliates do not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes or services and cannot be held liable for any result of the use of such information, products, processes or services discussed on this website.