Blue-bearded Bee-eater

The blue-bearded bee-eater is probably the largest bee-eater, 31–35 cm long and 70–93 g, with a large sickle-shaped bill. The elongated blue throat feathers are often fluffed, giving it its name, and the belly is yellowish to olive with green or blue streaks. It is not as gregarious or active as the smaller bee-eaters, and its square-ended tail lacks the wire-like central feathers of many other bee-eaters (Wikipedia, general species account).

It has a loud call and is found singly or in small groups of up to three, very patchily distributed. The nest is a deep tunnel in a mud bank, sometimes begun a month before laying, with four spherical white eggs (Wikipedia, general species account).