The colourful, elegant and heat-loving bee-eater is the only European representative of a family that is mostly limited to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (Eastern Hemisphere).

In the past the European bee-eater only visited us sporadically, mainly due to a prolongation of migration in spring. In the meantime this flying jewel breeds here frequently. As highly specialised large insect hunters, these birds have again and again ventured from their original breeding grounds in the Mediterranean region into the north.

Status (in CH): frequent, local breeding bird, rare migratory bird.

Features: Colourful feathers, reddish-brown and yellow on the top, blue-green underneath, throat yellow; elongated tail feathers; long, curved beak; melodious flight calls, short warbling "proop".

(Source: Swiss Ornithological Institute)