Lilac-breasted Roller
Coracias caudatus
Bushveld. Named for its lilac breast, it also has blue underparts and flight feathers.
Rollers
LC
Not Endemic
Description
Common resident. The only roller with lilac throat and breast and blue belly, vent and undertail. Tail-shafts are straight; often absent when moulting. Immature lacks tail-shafts and is duller, browner. Utters harsh rattling sounds and rolls in display. Occurs singly or in pairs in grassy regions within broad-leaved woodland and thornveld; often numerous in stunted mopane woodland. A common roadside bird in many areas, perching conspicuously on telephone wires and other exposed vantage points.
Quick Facts
Size
36 cm - M
Names
A: Gewone Troupant
Z: iFefelihle
Ss: Letleretlere La Sefubaperese
G: Gabelracke
Bird Family
Colourful, heavy-billed birds with brilliant blue wing-feathers and harsh, croaking voices. They spend much of the day still-hunting from a convenient perch, flying down to catch and eat large insects and other small prey on the ground. They breed in holes in trees (sometimes in holes in cliffs) and have active display flights, which involve violent aerial manoeuvres with much harsh calling.
Distribution
Gallery
Behaviour
Breeding
Habitat
Occurs singly or in pairs in grassy regions within 'broad-leaved woodland' and thornveld; often numerous in stunted 'mopane' woodland.
