Blue Tailed Bee Eater

What a great name, huh?!

I knew that would get your attention!

Ok, now to start, I'm NOT a bird-watching geek.
No offense to bird watchers, but come on, let's be honest. Most people don't put bird watching way up on their list of things to do. It's a niche market and the public in general think of bird watchers as geeks. Ok? There I said what you were thinking!
(I have a habit of doing that)
That having been said, I spend a lot of useless time out on my back balcony, which overlooks a row of trees, which does a very bad job of hiding the LRT (Light Rail Transit) tracks. Try living next to an LRT track. You DO eventually get used to the noise, but it IS a pain in the ass. In fact I'm ALMOST at the point where I've had enough and thinking about moving. I was out in O.U.G. (Overseas Union Garden) the other night with my Significant Other having dinner at Steven's Corner and the ONE thing I noticed, besides how good the Tandoori Chicken and Garlic Cheese Nan was, is the quiet! No city noise, no LRT...

Ok, back to the bird watching.
This morning I had again noticed a bird which I'd seen for the last few days. It was beautiful. Greens, blues, almost iridescent... Now we have the usual variety of city birds here: pigeons, crows, morning doves, a few sparrows, and in the evening, catching flying bugs-Swallows. But this morning I saw a gorgeous green and blue colored small bird which, when it flew looked like the coloring of a parrot, although much much smaller.
So, Jay did what he always does when something interests him and he doesn't know much about it. "Googled" it.
Turns out, it's a bird with the coolest name!
A Blue Tailed Bee Eater!
Ha! I love that!
Here's a picture I stole from Nelson Khor's website. He's one of those geeky bird watchers, but with all due respect, he has some beautiful photos of birds!

Turns out the Blue-tailed Bee-eater, (Merops philippinus) eats... no surprize... BEES!
Well, insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets. It catches them mostly in the air and then, because it has a long slender beak, can keep the stingers away until it gets to a spot where it SLAMS the bee into the ground and kills it!

Damned violent, huh?
One down side is, it also east Dragonflys.


I LOVE Dragonflys. They are one of my most favorite things about life on earth. But hey... everyone's gotta eat, right?






Ok, I've gotten little carried away with the info on a bird here. But look it up, it's a cool bird, and a really beautiful one!
From what I read I can't think of a single reason why it'd be around here. It is native to South East Asia, but it nests in spots nowhere like the place I stay.
Guess I'll just be grateful while it's around and enjoy the view.
Stop and look around. Take a moment. You'll be surprised what you'll see.
Just a thought...