Rainbow
Birds (Merops ornatus): Australia is the home of many
beautiful birds. Rainbow Birds are one of our most colourful. They are about
the size of the better known Willie Wagtail. One author describes them as a
“gorgeous pale-green and blue bird of graceful flight”. We cannot do
better than this description. Two distinctive slender feathers extend beyond
the tail feathers. They also have slender curved beaks that are perfectly
adapted to catch insects on the wing.
Rainbow Birds are migratory. They winter in South-east Asia then move south to
Australia in September-October and arrive in large flocks. Rainbow Birds then
pair off and commence nesting. In autumn they congregate again before heading
north.
They nest in the ground and dig holes in sandy soil. We
have seen them nesting in a sandy bank in Lismore on the North Coast, in many
places in the Warrumbungle National Park and near Bingara, west of Armidale.
The image is taken from one of our paintings and shows a number of Rainbow
Birds perching in a Grevillea in the Bungle Bungle National Park
situated in the Kimberley area of Western Australia.