Pictures of European Bee-eaters are often shot in the vicinity of nesting locations. I have shoot this picture next to a gravel quarry where a large colony is nesting. An agricultural dirt road passes at a respectable distance and it is close to small shrubs. I have stayed inside my car, hidden behind a camouflage net and I don't think I have disturbed the colony because of the distance.

These European Bee-eaters had just arrived one of two days ago. I have read that pairs are generally linked for life and that new pairs meet on the winter range. The new formed pairs will fly and nest in the native region of the male. Haven't you notice any kind of Spanish, Italian or other tones in the females' songs?

I had only one short day available to observe these beautiful birds. I should have had some more free days to have a chance to admire the typical courtship feeding scene when one male offers one insect to a female.

I still need to make progress on pictures of birds in flight.

Difficult to make a selection in the series of pictures. Here is another one …

I have taken this picture at the take off from the perch. There is still some sharpness problems.

The water level of the Doubs river has been rather high this spring, causing problems to the European Bee-eaters for digging their nests in the earth cliff bordering the river. I found this burrow, about two hundred meters away from the bank of the river, on the side of a path used by cows. This location is more at risk for eventual predators and I do not know if its use was successful.

The earth cliff that borders the Doubs river presents a danger to the livestock present in the adjacent meadows. A fence is necessary to protect them. This fence must also be moved every year depending on the modification of the meanders of the river during floods. But this fence also has another use, it is a well-placed perch near the colony of European Bee-eaters.

Here is a photo shot during a second visit to the colony. I think the young of the year have already been born. Around mid-August they will come to fly over my garden less than 2 kilometres away before leaving on migration. Just listen carefully, you often hear them before you see them.

I'm getting a little better at photos of birds in flight. I still have to improve the framing and choose a better time so that the sun's rays are in the right direction. Secondly, I will try to find a location that allows for a background other than the blue sky (while remaining at a distance so as not to disturb the colony).

The European Bee-eater is a very photogenic bird. For a beautiful photo you also need a beautiful perch. This one is not the best effect. The winter floods will perhaps bring me another one for next year.

Some photographers erase unwanted elements from their images such as these small oblique or lower left branches. I prohibit myself from this type of modification.