southern carmine bee-eater

Southern Carmine Bee-eaters are at 35 cm, head - to - tail, the longest of the bee-eaters here. They are slender in shape with a long, dark, decurved bill and a long tail with long streamers. The dark colour of the bill carries through to a wide black eye-stripe separating the turquoise blue...

If you can't find a Kori Bustard to perch on you have to make do with elephant poo!

The pair does make kind of an SF series too. The Bee-eater stretched its wings for take-off, so we all went into power burst mode to catch it in flight ... but it was just a practical joke on the Bee-eater's part.

As promised ... here comes the rest of the Carmine Bee-eater trio, even though I didn't get any browsing done at the airport (couldn't find a power outlet that worked, was convenient to sit by, and wasn't already being used by somebody else).

I had a series of seven CBE-shots, moving from distant to closer to close-up with action, but I decided to just post the last three. You may have to be patient waiting for the next one. I may not get time to post tomorrow. But we'll see. Hopefully I'll get on line and catch up on browsing while...

Southern Carmine Bee-eater flight

Southern Carmine Bee-Eater dreaming

carmine flight during the breading season.

A stunning summer visitor.

Too close for a full image. Juvenile and very colorful.

Common intra-African summer migrant

Amazing Southern Carmine Bee-Eater breeding colony near Kalizo Lodge, Caprivi strip

Amazing Southern Carmine Bee-Eater breeding colony near Kalizo Lodge, Caprivi strip