Burrowberry bird

Burrowberry birds were a type of birds native to the forest planet Yamradi. Around 233 BBY,^[3] the species was discovered by SF-R3, Kai Brightstar, Nubs, and Lys Solay after a burrowberry bird mistakenly took CAM for a berry. It was later named by Solay after their habits of burrowing and eating berries.^[1]

Biology and appearance

The burrowberry bird was a type of huge bird with a horned, black beak that had two nostrils at the front and contained white teeth and a pink tongue. The horn's black coloration extended over the top of the bird's head and met with their white and blue feathers, which ran down the back of the bird's neck and covered its torso and two flight-capable wings. The feathers where more blue on the wings and more white on the creature's underside, with thinner more hair-like feathers around the base of the neck. The sides of a burrowberry bird's head were white with a large eyes on each side with a black pupil surrounded by a green iris and then white sclera.^[1]

Pink flesh and eyelid that surrounded each eye matched the coloring of the bird's lower jaw and the front of its neck, both of which were marked with vertical ribbed lines. A thin, uneven frill ran from above each of the bird's eyes down the sides of its neck and was brown in color with a darker edge, patches, and spots. The frill on the bird's gray tail also matched this pattern as did the bird's two legs, which ended in black feet with four white-clawed toes at the front and one white claw at the rear.^[1] A mother^[4] burrowberry bird could lay clutches^[2] of up to atleast three^[1] eggs.^[2] Once hatched, the young^[1] mostly ate berries,^[2] as did the adult birds. Burrowberry birds could vocalise through shrieks and chirping and produced^[1] blue slobber^[4] when licking.^[1]

Behavior

Burrowberry birds were native to the planet Yamradi where they lived in underground nests^[2] within the world's forests. The nests were built in burrows that could be lined entirely with twisted branches, with the nest itself also being made from a circle of branches. A mother burrowberry bird would leave its young in the nest while it sought out food for them in the surrounding forest, locating berry bushes and then flying back to the burrow with a berry in its beak to feed to the young.^[1] Due to their berry diet, burrowberry birds posed no threat to others.^[2]

History

A very berry-like droid

Around 233 BBY,^[3] burrowberry birds were yet to be discovered by the galaxy's scientific community and so had not been named.^[1] Around that year,^[3] the droids SF-R3 and CAM of the Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts visited Yamradi with the Jedi Kai Brightstar, Lys Solay and Nubs in order to film chylaroos. After the group discovered several chylaroos and began studying them, an adult burrowberry bird began rustling in a nearby patch of berry bushes. The noise drew CAM over to investigate, but when the droid discovered the bird it shrieked at him and then licked its lips, mistaking the small spherical droid for one of the shiny berries it was searching for.^[1]

Grabbing CAM in its beak, the burrowberry bird took flight and began flying above the forest's canopy back to its burrow, where three^[1] unhatched eggs were waiting.^[2] Hearing the bird's shireks, SF-R3 and the Jedi spotted it and CAM and gave chase but soon lost sight of it. Solay found one of the bird's shed feathers and assumed that the bird nested in the treetops of the forest, climbing up to begin searching. After failing to find the bird up high, the Jedi returned to the ground and discovered another feather outside the bird's burrow. The bird meanwhile, had returned to the burrow and released CAM there with its three eggs.^[1]

Upon reaching the nest, the Jedi and SF-R3 were greeted by CAM, but the adult burrowberry bird swiflty rose from the nest followed them as they tried to flee. It grabbed CAM in its beak again, but as SF-R3 refused to let go of the other droid, the mother bird lifted both of them and shook them around before flapping its wings to blow the three Jedi out of the burrow with a gust of wind. Outside the Jedi discussed how to rescue the droids and after looking at one of the local berries they realised that the bird had consfused CAM for a berry. Brightstar and Nubs then covered themselves in berries to create a distraction.^[1]

Rescue plan

As the two Jedi entered the burrow, SF-R3 tried to tell the bird from within the nest that he and CAM needed to return to their friends, but the mother merely shrieked at him. The Jedi then called out to the adult bird, who shrieked at them and chased them out of the burrow. Solay then entered the unguarded burrow and found SF-R3 and CAM unharmed and filming the three baby burrowberry birds,^[1] who had hatched while SF-R3 and CAM were in the nest^[2] and were feeding on berries. One baby bird began nipping at CAM until SF-R3 provided it a berry to eat instead, at which point the mother bird returned to the nest with the captured Brightstar and Nubs in its beak.^[1]

The mother dropped the two Jedi into the nest where the three baby birds began licking them and wagging their tails. The mother bird then accompanied the Jedi and droids to the front of the burrow, where Solay fed^[1] her^[4] a berry. The three babies then chased Nubs—who still had a pile of berries on his head—out of the burrow, where SF-R3 thanked the Jedi and especially Solay for their help. CAM then began filming the group as SF-R3 asked Solay to officialy name the newly discovered creature, and so she provided the name burrowberry bird based on the bird's burrowing behavior and its love of berries. One of the babies then licked CAM as he rose up to take a final wide shot of the entire group. In the final shot, one of the babies knocked over Brightstar, while Nubs sat upon another baby's back.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Burrowberry was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in "Creature Safari,"^[1] the fifth episode of the Disney+ animated series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, which aired on May 4, 2023.^[5]

Appearances

• Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures — "Creature Safari" (First appearance)

Sources

• Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy

Notes and references

Explore all of Wookieepedia's images for this article subject.