The handling sequence is consistent and learned. The bird returns to a perch holding the insect near the head, batters it against the wood to kill or stun it, then wipes the tip of the abdomen repeatedly along the perch. Pressure discharges venom from the sac, and the sting itself may be removed in the process.
Experiments have shown the birds discriminate: non-stinging prey such as dragonflies and flies are handled far more briefly. Young birds handle stinging prey clumsily at first and improve with practice, which points to learning rather than a fixed motor programme.
The diet's reliance on bees puts the species into occasional conflict with beekeepers, though studies in several countries have generally found that honeybees form a modest fraction of the annual diet and that damage to apiaries is usually limited. Whether local concentrations near hives do meaningful economic harm remains genuinely disputed between researchers and beekeeping bodies.