The adult male has a purple head, face, “beard” (long hanging throat feathers), breast and upper belly.

Young birds have a green crown and nape, dusky face and bluish beard.

Like other bee-eaters it nests in burrows up to 90 cm long tunnelled into the side of sandy river banks, cliffs and cuttings, but does not form colonies.

The purple-bearded bee-eater, again like its relatives, eats insects, including bees, wasps and dragonflies and beetles, which are caught in flight.

This species hunts alone or in pairs, rather than in flocks, and sits on a favoured perch for long periods, twisting its head with its beard flattened or plumped, and wagging its tail back and forth before sallying after passing prey.