In November and December, we experienced the departure of many birds and an overall lack of insects - no doubt due mainly to the bushes drying up.

But one bird didn't just remain, but could be seen in big numbers - the beautiful Rainbow Bee Eater.

In our case, where you find trees all along the Hunter River, you'll find the Bee Eaters.

They are quite amazing birds - one of my favourites, in fact.

With their magnificent green, blue, chestnut and yellow plumage, slim build, slender bill and distinctive streamers that extend from the end of their tail, they are truly a beautiful bird.

They sit in pairs high up with a good vantage point, and with their amazing eyesight will suddenly swoop down - flying swiftly, sometimes with rapid twists and turns -before grabbing their prey in mid air . . . bees, dragonflies, all kinds of insects.

Bee Eaters arrive in November each year and start digging out nest holes in the riverbanks. They usually have chicks early December.

People often mistake the Bee Eaters for Kingfishers but here's a tip: Kingfishers have strong straight beaks, whereas Bee Eater have gently curved beaks. Also Kingfishers never catch prey on the wing.

From the southern states the Bee Eaters will head north to the Top End in winter where they will nest before and after the rainy season.

They will then return south in November. The nesting tunnel is quite narrow and it is common to see Bee Eaters backing out. Both birds feed the chicks.

A worrying statistic for bird lovers is that in research featured in the 'State of Australia's Birds 2015', the East Coast reporting rates for this species have dropped by more than 50 per cent since 2001.

Most of the images I took this year were mostly Bee Eaters in flight in an attempt to catch them head on.

I did manage to get some shots head on in flight, but this was to prove more difficult than I'd hoped.

I have included some with this article - most were taken with a high speed shutter, usually about 2000 sec, but I did experiment with the MIOPS trigger (a camera and flash trigger in a single unit) using it on 'sound'.

I found this to be quite successful, especially when the MIOPS was in close. The camera was some distance from the subject and set on high speed.

The MIOPS has seven triggering modes - aside from sound, they include lightning, movement and laser among others. Worth a try.

Till the next time.