The birds and the bees
As you know I am surrounded by a menagerie of wildlife on the farm in Tropical North Queensland. Some of it can be pretty scary, but most of it is magnificent.
I was on the porch the other day when blue flashes in the sky caught my eye (it was before wine o’clock so I knew it wasn’t my imagination).
In the mango tree out the front I saw some cute little birds paying me a visit. When they’re flying you can see the bright blue under their wings. Once they land on a branch they’re perfectly camouflaged.
They are Rainbow Bee-eaters.
You probably can’t see them in the picture below unless you look really closely.
I’ve saved you the trouble of zooming in with the picture below.
These two weren’t talking to each other, and then….
….a third one joined in to say hello, but they still didn’t want to talk
…and then I spotted this one sitting all by itself watching the three ignoring each other
I don’t know what was going on in the bird world that day, but it would make a pretty cool story!
Have a great week!
Gorgeous photos, and I love the narration. Watching the birds in my back yard is one of my favorite pastimes, and I often imagine what they’re thinking and saying to each other. 🙂 -Amy
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Thanks, Amy! I wasn’t sure what they were at first and had to Google them. I can’t ever remember seeing them here before so we must have an influx of bees somewhere close 😀
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Wow Dianne I have never seen these before, such beautiful colours. I would have been captivated and snapping away too. Thanks for sharing them, anything to do with birds and I am there.
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I’d never seen them before either, Kath! They’re magnificent. I’ve noticed a lot of native bees around this year (I love native bees and the honey!) so this may be what is attracting them.
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Dianne I adore those fuzzy little native bees too. You are blessed that they sat quietly long enough for you to take your gorgeous photo’s.
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I was surprised they sat so long. I had to run inside and get the camera – so lucky they sat there posing for me! 😀
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Beautiful!
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They sure are, Carol! 😉
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Pretty Birds – thanks so much for sharing – Beautiful Captures 🙂
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Thank you! They certainly are very pretty (and well behaved – sitting there posing for me!) 😀
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They’re gorgeous. I hope they’re not really eating the bees, though.
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They are unfortunately. But that’s just nature I guess 😦
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Wonderful photos Dianne! You have such fascinating wildlife. 🙂
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Thank, Jackie! They all make great subjects for photos 😀
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Such beautiful birds. Well taken photographs.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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Thank you, David! Huge hugs right back at you 😀
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These are really beautiful birds.
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They certainly are, Colline! 😀
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Incredible photos Dianne Gray! I just opened my reader for the first time in a while and saw your post – which is always one I love to read, of course…the mango tree birds were fabulous. We just returned from 10 days in Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco Mexico and was thoroughly entertained with the fruit trees everywhere – including mango! Thanks for the great post! Life in the RUC is good. 🙂
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This is wonderful, Sheila! 10 days in Puerto Vallarta would be absolutely fantastic! I wish I’d been there as well 😀
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Great shots of some gorgeous birds. I can’t wait for the cool weather so we can go back to taking pictures.
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I’m so glad you like the shots, Ruth. I’m looking forward to seeing any pictures you take once the weather cools down a bit 😀
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Wonderful shots hun. Love the bubble thoughts..is that what you call them? 😦 you should do more of this, very cute and they are spectacular birds, even though grumpy. xxx
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I only put the bubble thought in as an afterthought. But every time I looked at it I laughed (I’m SO weird!) 😆
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Then I must be too, but as I said you must do more of them, it was very funny. xx
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Love those birds and love your interpretative narration, But mostly love your reference to wine-o-clock. No, not so weird, as you commented in the comment above me- fun! Imaginative! 🙂
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Thank you, Bonnie! You’ve always been a woman after my own heart! 😉
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Oh Dianne, I’ve been waiting for another critter post from you! I’ve never seen birds so colorful, they’re beautiful! I love your captions. 🙂
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These birds were SO beautiful, Jill. The colours just amazed me, but I could get a good shot of them flying and that blue part under their wings. Maybe next time 😀
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I love nature. She is so darn clever.
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She certainly is! There is no way I would have spotted these beauties if I hadn’t seen them actually fly to the tree 😀
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Thanks for sharing. Such beautiful birds!
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They are truly spectacular and I’m so glad they stayed still for me for a while 🙂
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Beautiful birds, nice photos. 🙂
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Thank you, Theo! 😀
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Loved the term “wine o’clock” Dianne! Very funny! And loved the pictures with commentary too! Would definitely make a pretty cool story as you mentioned. Another book in the making? Great post as usual! 🙂
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I thought of about ten stories while I was looking at them ignoring each other – mostly ‘Days of Our Lives’ type dramas (lol) 😉
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Beautiful pictures….and I love the term “wine o’clock”!! 😀
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My favourite time of the day (lol) 😉
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I’m glad you had a ZOOM lens. Gorgeous birds!!! Thanks for the great share.
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I’m glad I did too, Nancy. I was just zooming in on a kookaburra a few minutes ago when my battery died (D’oh!)
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They are so beautiful! Even if they are being a bit snobby! 😉
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They certainly look snobby! lol 😀
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Haha, love the birds and the narration. I think they are pretty birds, but maybe a little on the antisocial side 🙂
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They certainly are snobs! 😀
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Oh, these are such beautiful birds, Diane. Thanks for zooming in. I spent a good few seconds staring at your first pic, trying to find them, and then I scrolled down, only to find you’d done the work for me. 🙂 I really like the idea that birds can talk to one another……….if they are so inclined. 😀
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I’d just love to be able to hear their conversation, Sylvia! I was thinking something along the lines of Days of Our Lives when there are long breaks between questions and they just stare off into the distance 😀
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You live in such a beautiful part of the world! I love it when you share pictures of your surroundings. (although they make me so jealous lol)
Those birds really do seem to be in squabble about something, don’t they?
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They reminded me of Days of Our Lives where there is a long silence between questions (LOL). I’d love to know what was going on in those cute little heads 😀
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I remember seeing these tiny beauties at Kakadu they were like flying jewels flitting and diving over Gumlon. You did very well to catch them in a photo, and a great bird narration….
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I tried to catch them flying, but they were very illusive. I’m so glad you’ve seen them as well and I love the description ‘flying jewels’ because that’s exactly what they looked like! 😀
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Nice, but a pity you didn’t get a shot of them actually eating some bees.
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They may have eating bees, just very politely 😉
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When I saw this I said to myself…”myself we have a bee eater just like that…” whipped out my books and loo and behold I was wrong…. with all the colour combinations that we have here I thought it impossible that there could be another… brilliant captures… and this I found interesting… “The Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus) is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It is the only species of Meropidae found in Australia.” All of ours are of the Merops family so yours must have been an outcast or done something wrong and sent to Australia…
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I was actually going to send you the pictures, Rob, because I’d never seen one of these birds before and didn’t know what species it was. But I Googled first to see if I could find it and eventually did! Thank you so much for the extra info on them.
These little dudes must have been very bad boys to be shipped off to the colonies! lol 😀
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I’ve ‘seen’ these in the Algarve, Dianne, but they’re always too quick for me. Michael points them out and I just miss them, so I’m very grateful for your closeups. They’re beautiful, aren’t they? 🙂
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They’re absolutely beautiful, Jo! I’m not sure what is attracting them to this area because this is the first time I’ve seen them. Maybe our native bees are becoming prolific (I’d love to think that and hope it’s true) 😀
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Beautiful birds Dianne, thanks for sharing them with us.
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Thank you, Andrea! I just think they’re so very pretty 😀
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These birds are so pretty… If a little uncommunicative! Lovely photos Dianne 🙂
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Thank you, Tracy! I’m having some serious computer issues so I hope this response gets through to you 🙂
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Beautiful! I love their “eye-masks”; they’re like avian superheroes!
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What a great way to put it, Janna. 🙂
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What gorgeous feathered neighbours you have. I deduce if you have Rainbow Bee-eaters, you must have bees, and if there are bees your garden must be coming along 🙂
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I absolutely love bees, so I’m a little torn here. The native bees are my favourites and we seem to have a lot of them at the moment. Which is a wonderful sign for the environment. I’m having some serious computer issues at the moment so I hope this response gets through 😦
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Do they eat bees? They are so beautiful!
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Unfortunately they do (I love bees). But it must mean there are plenty about at the moment, Letizia 🙂
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I love learning about the animals in your part of the world Dianne.
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Dianne, what a cute story and adorable birds. That’s quite a mouthful, though, Rainbow Bee-eaters.
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Try saying rainbow bee-eaters ten times quickly (lol!). They certainly are adorable 🙂
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Can I count these birds on my bird watching list? I’m going to anyway!!
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Please do! They are SO cute! 🙂
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Wow, love the powder blue feathers! What a gorgeous bird. I’m sorry that they eat bees (assuming by their name, of course), because bees are having a helluva time these days!
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They do eat bees (unfortunately) 😦 But I’m thinking there must be a load of bees around here at the moment to attract so many so I guess that’s a good thing 🙂
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Those are adorable birds! I love all your pics!
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Awww – thank you 🙂
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You’ve done it again, Diane. You’ve shown me some wild life I’ve never seen before. Thanks for sharing your world–it’s so utterly beautiful and different from mine in Wisconsin!
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Thanks so much, Barb! I love my critters 🙂
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Thanks for ‘zooming’ – would never have seen the beauties! Can you send me a few – we have carpenter bees they just might love for treats! 🙂 You take beautiful pictures. All the best.
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Wine o’clock…love it! Those birds are fantastic and though cute, the bee snacks and snooty interactions tell a different story behind the feathers. I feel like all of these critters around you are going to end up in a Dianne Gray children’s book one of these days. : )
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I couldn’t imagine having sturdy enough insides to eat bees.
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They may be very yummy, Daphne (for birds) lol
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When I see pictures like this I understand why people become birders!
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I’ve never really been a bird person, Allen – but I just can’t avoid them here 🙂
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Talk about the invisible bird! How could something that beautiful and colorful be so hard to see? Next time I want to listen in to a secret conversation, I’m going to paint a black streak across my nose. Think it will help? 🙂
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Lol! I can just imagine you up there in that tree with them, Marsha! You crack me up sometimes 🙂
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We have a new favorite TV show called Naked and Afraid. I can just see those two naked folks who need to find food, water, shelter, and maybe even a few clothes, up there in that tree with their noses all painted up thinking they blend in. 🙂 hehehe
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That bird in the last picture must be my introverted doppelganger in the avian world…
Sorry I’m late to the party. Was away from the Internet most of the past week. Such an odd sensation but strangely liberating, too!
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I’ve had that ‘away from the internet’ weekend because my laptop broke on Friday night. The worst thing about it is that I had heavily edited my latest novel and now it’s gone unless I can find a harddrive guru 😦 Im using my galaxy note at the moment and it was fun having to find all my passwords (not).
I noticed your absence last week and was going to email you to make sure everything was okayxxxx
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Sorry to hear about your lost edits. I know how frustrating that is; I’ve been there myself. Hope you can rescue them. 😦
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Ha ha! Aww, they’re so cute. I hope they become friends again! As always, great photos. Dianne!
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Love! I nominated my fellow Aussie a few days ago for two awards on my blog, hummingbirdredemption. xxx
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What an amazing supply of writing prompts you have around you every day! I’m thinking those birds could make a great children’s story…. 🙂
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If it’s anything like the birds and bees here, they are all anticipating spring, much too early. But who can blame them? 🙂
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Hi Diane: as we said we’ve been gone for so long we’re knocking around your blog checking out a few posts!! 😉 Loving this one by the way! Not sure if I told you, but my mother, Inion’s grandmother (Nana) is from Queensland, Australia. She still has Aunt’s who live there. So she’ll get a kick out of these pics, which I’m sure will bring a tear to her face. By the way, I’m totally using the wine-o’clock!!! lmao 😉 xoxo
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What a small world it is! It’s nice to know that you’re very familiar with Australia – and attached to the country as well. What wonderful news this is! 😀
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Beautiful and great photos. I have mainly brown British sparrows in my garden!
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Thank you, Helen. I just love colourful birds 😀
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