The European Bee-eater is absolutely striking, and as a visitor it was definitely a species I hoped to see in Bulgaria. My guide Georgi came through in a big way, not only guiding me to see this bird in several locations, but at one point getting creative to change plans on the fly so that I could actually photograph this bird. He set me up in his pop-up blind near a frequent perch of a Bee-eater colony, lent me a tripod and chair, and waited nearby for a couple hours while I got my shots. It was the middle of the day, so the light wasn't good. And it was nearly 90 degrees outside; I'm going to guess it was 115-120 in the blind. Heat distortion killed the vast majority of my shots; I may have gotten 15 relatively sharp ones out of 500, even using a tripod! But I got a several good shots which, under the conditions, I'm quite happy with. For a spur-of-the-moment shoot, it was an absolutely amazing experience, one for which I am very thankful. June 2023.