I’ve just spent the weekend camping at Mungo Brush on the NSW east coast. Mungo Brush is a wilderness area about two hours’ drive north of Newcastle and about three hours from Sydney. The distance is enough to make for a different set of birds to look at. While strolling along a path towards the beach, I saw four Rainbow Bee-eaters. Here are two of them:

It looks like one of the birds is offering the other a snack, which might of course be a bee!

At first, I thought these birds were a colourful type of kingfisher. Then I zoomed in on the photograph and saw the long appendages on their tails. It’s interesting that my bird book names kingfishers as birds that are similar to bee-eaters.

Common name: Rainbow Bee-eater
Scientific name: Merops ornatus
Approximate length: 23-27 cm
Date spotted: 19 October 2024 (spring)
Location: Mungo Brush, NSW, Australia: 32°30’31.1″S 152°21’41.3″E