Bee-eater - Timing is everything

A Green Bee-eater swoops down for a drink of water.

I will be the first to admit that this is hardly a good photograph, but my intend is otherwise. Here one can see the agility of this bird. Flying at rather high speeds, it will dip down with its beak open scooping up water, while in flight. This has a lot of hazards as the speed of motion and the drastic weight increase (open beak, scooping up water) will alter the bird's energy and momentum. Where is Albert Einstein when you need him ? He would explain it better. An idiot's perspective is this : Drive at full speed down the highway, then pull the handbrake and see what happens. In order to survive and succeed in such sudden change of direction and drag, there needs to be extreme flexibility involved. And all in all, this photograph is there to try and demonstrate this (with tail feathers fanned out to reduce speed and direct motion).