There are many varieties of bee-eater birds, ranging in size from 6 to 14 inches. All have pretty feathers in various combinations of bright red, yellow, blue, brown and purple. A black mask appearing over the eyes is worn by all of them. These unusual birds live in Mediterranean countries, Africa, Australia, India and other tropical areas. The European bee-eaters migrate south in the winter.
Bees, wasps and hornets represent 80% of the bee-eater’s diet along with a few other insects. These are captured in the air—even the young can do this without any lessons from their parents. Their food being caught this way explains why the Creator gave them long, pointed wings and swallow-like tails, enabling them to fly swiftly and make quick turns in their flights so that they rarely fail to capture their prey.
Another special thing about this bird is its long curved and pointed beak. What purpose does it serve?
Well, if they only ate flying ants, termites, etc., a short, wide beak like a swallow’s would do very well. But catching bees and wasps is another matter, since a sting in the mouth or throat would not only be painful, but would probably mean death to the bird. So God gave it a specially designed beak.
Overtaking a bee in mid-air, it skillfully catches the bee across its middle just strongly enough to hold it tightly until the bird returns to its perch where it beats its captive against something solid to kill it. Then the pointed beak finds its usefulness, carefully removing and discarding the stinger, after which any remaining poison is squeezed out. Not until all this has been taken care of does it eat the bee or offer it to its babies. Isn’t that a wonderful ability?
There are those who think bee-eaters must have practiced catching bees in this manner and removing their stingers over many centuries before doing it just right. But that is foolish thinking, for it is plain that until they learned to do it perfectly each of them would have been stung to death and the species would have died out. No, there could never be any “evolution” of this or any other kind. God Himself gave these pretty birds their knowledge of how to capture and eat these poisonous insects safely when He created them. This instinct and skill has been inherited by each generation ever since.
ML-05/20/1984