BIRDWALKERMONDAY

This Blog contains Wildlife and Bird Photos from Walks, Safaris, Birding Trips and Vacations. Most of the pictures have been taken with my Nikon P900 and P950X cameras. On the right of the page are labels for each species of Bird/Animal etc. Click on a label and it will show all of the photos taken for that species. I am adding as much information for each species as I can from sources Wikipedia. To see any pictures at full size just click on the picture.

Showing posts with label LILAC BREASTED ROLLER (Coracias caudatus). Show all posts

Thursday 24 March 2022

6-6-2019 KHWAI CAMP, BOTSWANA - LILAC BREASTED ROLLER (Coracias caudatus)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/2269-Coracias-caudatus

Monday 21 February 2022

6-4-2019 LINYANTI, BOTSWANA - LILAC BREASTED ROLLER (Coracias caudatus)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/2269-Coracias-caudatus

Sunday 13 February 2022

4-6-2019 LINYANTI CAMP, BOTSWANA - LILAC BREASTED ROLLER (Coracias caudatus)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/2269-Coracias-caudatus

Tuesday 25 January 2022

28-5-2019 SOMALISA CAMP, ZIMBABWE - LILAC BREASTED ROLLER (Coracias caudatus)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/2269-Coracias-caudatus

Friday 23 April 2021

21-5-2019 MANA POOLS, ZIMBABWE - LILAC BREASTED ROLLER (Coracias caudatus)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/2269-Coracias-caudatus

Saturday 4 January 2020

6-6-2019 KHWAI CAMP, BOTSWANA - LILAC BREASTED ROLLER (Coracias caudatus) PHOTO COURTESY OF MRS VALERIE FISHER

Friday 19 July 2019

24-5-2019 MANA POOLS, ZIMBABWE - LILAC BREASTED ROLLER (Coracias caudatus)

The lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus) is an African bird of the roller family, Coraciidae. It is widely distributed in Southern and Eastern Africa, and is a vagrant to the southern Arabian Peninsula. It prefers open woodland and savanna, and it is for the most part absent from treeless places. Usually found alone or in pairs, it perches at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from where it can spot insects, amphibians and small birds moving about on the ground. Nesting takes place in a natural hole in a tree where a clutch of 2–4 eggs are laid, and incubated by both parents, who are extremely aggressive in defence of their nest, taking on raptors and other birds. During the breeding season the male will rise to a fair height (69 to 144 metres), descending in swoops and dives, while uttering harsh, discordant cries. The sexes are different in coloration, and juveniles lack the long tail streamers of adults. This species is unofficially considered the national bird of Kenya. Alternative names for the lilac-breasted roller include the fork-tailed roller, lilac-throated roller (also used for a subspecies of purple roller) and Mosilikatze's roller.

Lilac-breasted rollers are found throughout eastern and southern Africa, and occurs locally at sea level, and up to 2,000 metres above sea level or over. Their range extends from the Red Sea coast of Eritrea through East Africa (including Zanzibar) to southern Africa, where they occur commonly in Namibia (excluding the Namib Desert), Botswana, Zimbabwe, and northeastern South Africa. The nominate subspecies C. c. caudatus is non-migratory, but a measure of post-breeding dispersal occurs into miombo woodland or sandy areas, before they return to the breeding areas at the start of the rains. Its counterpart, the lilac-throated roller (C. c. lorti) migrates from northeast Kenya to northwest Somalia to breed from late April to mid-September. The latter subspecies is also a vagrant to Eritrea, Oman and Yemen. Lilac-breasted rollers are most abundant in Kenya, though the species is less abundant than in former times.

Both subspecies live in open savannah habitats with scattered trees and shrubs, as the birds require higher perches for feeding and nesting. Less often they frequent riverine vegetation and light forest, and may enter subdesert steppe or open grassland where any elevated perches may be used. In protected areas, lilac-breasted rollers are among the bird species that frequent the verges of roads, especially during fires, when the small animals and insects that emerge from cover are easily predated. However, lilac-breasted rollers avoid other human-influenced areas and are not found in urban or rural areas unless they are abandoned. Outside of protected areas such as national parks, lilac-breasted rollers may infrequently be seen when farmers burn land for agricultural use. Such brush fires stir up insects and other invertebrates, and birds can be seen swooping in for easy prey.