The rare and elusive Böhm's bee-eater (Merops boehmi) commemorates the German zoologist and explorer Richard Böhm (1854-1884) who died at a young age of malaria. Böhm’s bee-eater prefers the denser tropical forest, so is harder to see. One of the most geographically restricted bee-eater species on the African continent, it is found in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. Unlike most bee-eaters, breeding cavities are excavated on flat, or nearly flat ground. Neat tunnels are dug at about a 45 degree angle into well drained (usually sandy) soils. These burrows are usually about 1 m long.
