BOTW 12/13 - 12/17

let's eat some bees

Hi All,

Before I jump into BOTW, I’m asking one more time for people to fill out my survey: CLICK ME. If you missed last week’s email, I am asking people whether they would be interested in a long-form BOTW spin-off that dives deep into the thrilling stories of the bird world, covers brand-new bird-related scientific discoveries, and gives helpful tips for bird-people who want to see more birds.

Thank you to everyone who took the survey last week, I really appreciate it!

On to the birds…

This week’s bird is the: European Bee-eater

1) Yes, you guessed correctly, this bird cannot be found in North America. It’s “European” but it’s also found across Eurasia and Africa, from Southeast Europe to China to South Africa.

2) The other part of the name - “Bee-eater” - comes from it’s family association (the bee-eaters, of which there are 28 species).

3) Some other “Bee-eaters” eat a lot less bees. Like, mostly just ants. But the name “anteater” was taken…

4) “Bee-eater” is a good description for the European Bee-eater, however. This bird eats every type of bee it can find. Imagine eating bees all day… Sounds fun.

5) Before swallowing their bee prey whole, these birds will rub the tail of the insect to “de-venom” it. And that’s how you eat bees all day, folks.

Have a great week!