The Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus), 13–14 cm (5–5.6 in) in length, including the tail, weight approximately 0.15 - 0.18 lb.
The upper back and wings are green, and the lower back and undertail feathers are bright blue.
The undersides of the wings and primary flight feathers are rufous to bronze with green edges and black tips, and the tail is black to deep purple.
The middle two tail feathers of the Rainbow Bee-eater are longer than the other tail feathers, and are longer in the male than in the female.
The crown, belly, breast, and throat are pale orange-yellow, and it has a black crescent-shaped neck and a black stripe, edged with blue, extending over its bright red eye.
Juveniles have a greener crown, lacking the throat band and tail band.

The Rainbow Bee-eater is a common species and can be found in summer in bushland areas across most of southern Australia, except Tasmania. It migrates north in winter to northern Australia, New Guinea and some southern Indonesian islands.
A vagrant species has been recorded on Miyako Island, Japan.
It can be found in open forests, beaches, sand dunes, cliffs, mangroves and farmland, and it often visits parks and private gardens.
Like all bee-eaters, the Rainbow Bee-eater is a very sociable bird. When not breeding, it roosts in large groups in bushes or large trees.

Rainbow bee-eaters primarily feed on flying insects, but as their name suggests, they really like bees.
Rainbow bee-eaters are always on the lookout for flying insects and can spot a potential meal up to 50 metres away.
When they spot an insect, the bee-eater will swoop down from its perch and catch it with its long, thin, black bill and fly back to its perch.
The Rainbow bee-eater will then smash the prey into its perch to subdue it.
Rainbow bee-eaters are actually immune to the stings of bees and wasps, but when they catch a bee, they will rub the stinger against their perch to remove the stinger, closing their eyes to avoid being sprayed with the poison from the ruptured venom sac.
Rainbow bee-eaters can eat hundreds of bees a day, so beekeepers obviously hate them, but their damage is often offset by their role in controlling pests like grasshoppers and wasps.

The Rainbow bee-eater is a ground-nesting bird, like all bee-eaters.
Breeding season is before and after the rainy season in the north and from November to February in the south.
Rainbow bee-eaters are said to mate for life.
The male will bring insects while the female digs a nesting tunnel.
Rainbow bee-eaters dig by balancing on their wings and feet, digging with their beak, and then pushing loose soil back with their feet while balancing on their beak.
The female can dig about three inches deep in a day.
The nesting tunnel is so narrow and the birds' bodies are pressed so tightly against the tunnel walls that when the birds enter and exit, their movements act like a piston, pumping fresh air in and pushing stale air out.

Rainbow bee-eaters have also been known to share their nesting tunnels with other bee-eaters and sometimes even other bird species.
The female lays 3 to 7 round, translucent white eggs, which are incubated for about 15 to 20 days until hatching.
The young bee-eaters fledge after 24 to 28 days and are fed and flown by both parents for several more weeks.
The rainbow bee-eater is the only species of Meropidae found in Australia and is monotypic.
Its closest relative is most likely the olive bee-eater (superciliosus) of southern and eastern Africa, but molecular phylogenetic analysis places the rainbow bee-eater as closest relative with the European bee-eater (M. apiaster).
It was first described by John Latham in 1801.
The generic name is Ancient Greek merops which means 'bee-eater' and the specific epithet is Latin ornatus 'ornate, adorned'.


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