tomaszberlin
European bee-eater consuming European hornet (Vespa cabro)
I have been observing bee-eaters already for several years but never had a chance to see a bird consuming the biggest European representative of wasp family - the hornet. There is scarce photographic documentation of bee-eater consuming hornet, e.g. youpic.com/image/19107301/bee-eater-with-hornet-by-marco-...
but majority of them simply demonstrate large wasps as bee-eater prey, e.g. www.flickr.com/photos/125363288@N06/45540300214
Therefore, I was really happy when finally, such a situation occurred in front of my hiding place two days ago. Unfortunately, light conditions were far from optimal but even so the process of the sting removal by hitting the hornet by the branch was really spectacular. Please notice that the overall length of the hornet exceeds the bee-eater's bill length, thus the bird has to be very careful to avoid deadly weapon of the hornet.
European bee-eater consuming European hornet (Vespa cabro)
I have been observing bee-eaters already for several years but never had a chance to see a bird consuming the biggest European representative of wasp family - the hornet. There is scarce photographic documentation of bee-eater consuming hornet, e.g. youpic.com/image/19107301/bee-eater-with-hornet-by-marco-...
but majority of them simply demonstrate large wasps as bee-eater prey, e.g. www.flickr.com/photos/125363288@N06/45540300214
Therefore, I was really happy when finally, such a situation occurred in front of my hiding place two days ago. Unfortunately, light conditions were far from optimal but even so the process of the sting removal by hitting the hornet by the branch was really spectacular. Please notice that the overall length of the hornet exceeds the bee-eater's bill length, thus the bird has to be very careful to avoid deadly weapon of the hornet.