European Bee-eater

The European bee-eater has the largest range of any bee-eater, breeding in southern and central Europe, northern and southern Africa and western Asia. Except for the resident southern African population it is strongly migratory, wintering in tropical Africa. It is slender and richly coloured, with brown and yellow upperparts, green wings and a black bill. It reaches 27 to 29 cm including the elongated central tail feathers and weighs 44 to 78 g (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is gregarious, nesting colonially in sandy banks, preferably near rivers. Non-breeding plumage is much duller, with a blue-green back and no elongated tail feathers. The 2012 National Red List gives no status under this name.