Description:

The burrowing bee-eater is a semi-social bee-eater species that inhabits the Congo Savannah. These bee-eaters, like most bee-eaters, are colorful. They are generally green with highlights of brown, light blue, and black around the eyes. They have longer legs, being about 5 to 6 centimeters long. These legs are adapted for them to spend more time on the ground. They also have a long and thin beak that allows them to prey on worms and other ground-dwelling invertebrates. They are about 19 to 22 centimeters long from head to tail and weigh about 18 to 24 grams. Unlike most animals, they are very conservative for a species in the Novicene.

Distribution:

The burrowing bee-eaters are found throughout the African continent, except in the rainforests and northern Saharan Desert. They mainly need burrows created by other species, so those animals often overlap with the bee-eater's range.

Diet:

Their diet mainly consists of burrowing beetles, grubs, caterpillars, and earthworms.

Burrowing Behavior:

These birds don't often create their burrows themselves. They inhabit abandoned burrows made by other species. Usually, a mating pair will live in a burrow together, but there are cases of bee-eaters inhabiting burrows alone or with non-mating pairs. They use their burrows to raise their chicks. The female will lay two eggs before the wet season. It usually takes about two weeks for the eggs to hatch. Once the eggs hatch, the mother and father raise the chicks, taking turns finding food and protecting the chicks.