Bee-eaters | Meropidae

Bijeneters | Abejarucos

Slender birds with a long, slightly downcurved pointed bill, pointed wings and often elongated central tail feathers; the flight alternates quick beats with long glides. They take their prey entirely on the wing and specialise in bees, wasps and other stinging insects: the catch is battered against the perch and the sting rubbed out of it before the insect is swallowed, after which the indigestible chitin comes back up as pellets. The nest lies at the end of a self-dug tunnel one to two metres long in a sand bank or in flat sandy ground, usually in a colony and often with non-breeding helpers assisting at the feeding of the young. Outside the breeding season too they stay in groups, feeding, resting and roosting pressed close together on wires and bare branches.