European Bee-eater as summer guests

Like every year, a large group of bee-eaters end of March comes back on the island of Cyprus.

While some couples occupy the small breeding areas other birds use the island as a resting and feeding place and move around.

Next to our home the birds sit in Groups up to 50 birds often early in the morning on the power lines. Generally, the Bird like old Carop trees used as Basic for there hunting.

But this old Trees mostly illegally were cut down by traders of firewood. Now nothing more than the power lines on the streets remains the bee eaters.

While they sit in the morning before sunrise and wait for passing insect swarms. With the first Sun the Birds moving over the banana fields to Northwest in the Akamas area. In the evening, just before sunset, you can hear them again. With loud calls, they announce themselves and get their feed for the evening on the banana fields again. If we walking this time with our Dogs on the road we realize very quickly that the birds adhere strictly to their natural escape distance of about 30 meters. When we come in this area they fly step by step about 20 meters farther along the power lines, which offer the best hide between the banana fields for the next start to catch an Insect.

Rare to find single birds on the way. I had some luck as a Bee-eater at a picnic place at the Mandria Beach some time gave me for a couple of shots.