Picture of a bird I touched today.

[Stan_Lite]

I was topping up the Med over the side of the rig this morning (anybody thinking of going to Sharm el Sheikh could well be swimming in my wee ), when one of these little fellas flew over and perched on the handrail about ten feet away from me. After I'd put away anything it could possibly mistake for a worm , I decided to try to get a closer look. Fully expecting it to fly away, I edged closer and closer until I was about two feet from it. I admired it for a while and decided to try my luck and touch it. I edged my hand towards it and it didn't fly off until I actually stroked its wing. Friendly little chap.

After much searching, I found it on the internet. It's a European Bee-eater aka Merops apiaster.

It's unusual to see something so pretty amongst all the steel, oil, grease, sweaty oilmen etc. out here

I saw another bird the other day whilst performing the same activity in the same place. It was sitting on the anchor to my left while I was discharging. It was some sort of bird of prey, quite small (about 8"-10" high) with a smallish, angular head. I only saw it from behind and above so only saw it's back. It had a sort of dark gold and black checked pattern on it's wings.
I know nothing about birds so I haven't been able to identify it. If anyone knows what it may be, feel free to help out.