As the temperature rises, the bugs appear where I live in the Pacific Northwest. Soon the bees will arrive. I know the Honeybees are important but I could do without the wasps. This is when I wish we had Bee-Eater Birds.
I think it was their coloring that caught my eye at first.
From the National Geographic: “The bee-eater darts across the sky in a gaudy patchwork suit: a chestnut crown, black robber’s mask, turquoise breast, and throat feathers the hue of ripening wheat. Just the outfit for a bird that refuses to play it safe.”

Then I read that they eat bees! Hence their name! (Note to self – I wonder what imaginary birds I could create based on this idea?)
National Geographic describes it best: “True to their name, bee-eaters eat bees (though they’ll prey on dragonflies, moths, termites, butterflies—just about anything that flies). When the bird chases a bee, it flies like a heat-seeking missile, matching its prey’s every twist and swoop. After a midair snatch, the bee-eater returns to its perch to de-venom the bee. It’s a brutally efficient operation. Grasping the bee in its beak, the bird bashes the insect’s head on one side of the branch, then rubs its abdomen on the other. The rubbing causes the stunned, sometimes headless bee to flush its toxins.”
According to Wikipedia, some Bee-Eaters can eat up to 250 bees in one day! Wowza! No need for a Bug Zapper here!
I started my drawing of the Bee-Eater with a quick pencil sketch. I found many beautiful images from the internet:

Next, I added color with my Prismacolor pencils:

And then I took a photo of it with a mat behind it:

Now doesn’t that make it sing!
Hope you stay tuned for tomorrow. I will show you how to play with color.
Happy creating!