Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.

The red-bearded bee-eater is an aptly named. He rocks a bright red wizard beard and loves to eat bees. 👨‍🎤🧙‍♂️🐝😋

This bee-eater’s range extends from southern Myanmar down the Thai-Malay peninsula, and it also occurs on Sumatra and Borneo as well as some of the smaller islands in the region. With its striking coloration and long, decurved bill, this bee-eater is hard to miss.

Bee-eaters are a primarily aerial predators. They sit and wait on a perch, keeping a keen lookout for airborne insects. Bees, wasps, beetles, cicadas, crickets, and ants all figure prominently on bee-eater hit lists. When a bee-eater spots a passing target, it sallies out and grabs the prey item in mid-air. Because stinging insects make up so much of a bee-eater’s diet, they’ve developed a method of removing the stinger. When they return to their perch with their prize, they repeatedly strike and rub the insect’s body against the tree or another surface; in so doing, the stinger is removed and much of the insect’s venom is discharged. Time to eat! 

Like its close relative, the kingfisher, bee-eaters excavate nest holes in banks and earthen cliffs. Sometimes, they’ll even dig a nest burrow directly into level ground. All that digging takes a toll on the bird’s bill, which can become blunted, even shortened – fear not, dear readers, as Gandalf liked to say, even a shortened wand can still be wielded effectively! 🪄

Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).

Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.