These spectacularly coloured birds are found in open forests, woodlands, shrublands, and cleared areas throughout mainland Australia, as well as eastern Indonesia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. One of the best places to see them in our area is on the road to the Capricorn Resort past the big roundabout, time spent watching them will be amply rewarded by a wonderful display of aerial acrobatics as the birds pursue their prey.
They eat flying insects, mainly bees and wasps, as well as dragonflies, beetles, butterflies and moths which are caught on the wing and carried back to a perch, stunned and eaten, bees and wasps are rubbed against the perch to remove the stings and venom glands.
After selecting a suitable nesting site in a sandy bank the female digs a burrow about 90cm long that will be their nest with the male will feeding her while she digs, she can dig about three inches every day. The tunnel leads to a nesting chamber which is often lined with grasses, about 5 eggs are laid in this with both parents incubating the eggs and feeding the young, this takes place between August and January in our area.