Fork-tailed roller, Lilac-throated roller, Mosilikatze's roller
The Lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus) is a beautifully colored African bird known for its acrobatic aerial displays during the breeding season. The sexes look similar, and juveniles lack the long tail streamers of adults. This species is unofficially considered the national bird of Kenya.
These large-headed birds are almost unmistakable with their colorful plumage tones. The lilac throat of the nominate subspecies C. c. caudatus deepens into a darker lilac breast. The crown to the mantle is olive, and the cheeks and ear coverts a lilac-rufous. In subspecies C. c. lorti however, the crown to mantle is greenish blue instead of olive, and the breast azure. The throat is lilac, and some Lilac-throated rollers have a lilac patch or rufous-brown tinges on the lower abdomen. Both subspecies have long, black outermost tail streamers that are absent in juveniles. The males and the females look alike though males may be slightly larger than females. Juveniles, immatures, and adults have the largest alula feather dark blue, but the primary coverts and rest of the alula are azure. The proximal half of the remiges are also a brilliant azure, and the distal half is black on the inner web, and dark purple-blue on the outer webs. Juveniles have the throat and breast rufous-tawny with broad diffuse buffy-white streaks with mauve margins on some feathers. Immatures have the breast buffy with occasional lilac feathers and diffuse pale streaking. Unique to rollers (family Coraciidae) are syndactyl feet, in which the second and third digits are fused.
Lilac-breasted rollers are found throughout eastern and southern Africa. 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. Some populations are non-migratory, while others migrate from northeast Kenya to northwest Somalia to breed from late April to mid-September. Lilac-breasted rollers live in open savannah habitats with scattered trees and shrubs. Less often they frequent riverine vegetation and light forest and may enter sub-desert steppe or open grassland where any elevated perches may be used. In protected areas, these birds frequent the verges of roads, especially during fires, but generally, they try to avoid other human-influenced areas and are not found in urban or rural areas.
Lilac-breasted rollers are active during the day and are usually found alone or in pairs. They perch conspicuously at the tops of trees, poles, or other high vantage points from where they can spot insects, lizards, or other prey moving about on the ground. Lilac-breasted rollers hunt from a perch and scout from a higher vantage point (including from atop large herbivorous mammals) before swooping in and grabbing prey with their beaks. If their prey is small, they will swallow it on the ground. These aggressive birds will carry larger prey back to a perch and beat it until it is dismembered. Outside of protected areas such as national parks, Lilac-breasted rollers may often 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. In East Africa, they join other perch hunters like Taita fiscals and Pale flycatchers to make opportunistic use of grassland fires. In South Africa, they are also seen in association with kites, storks, swallows, and bee-eaters when the burning of firebreaks drives small animals onto roads. The call of these acrobatic fliers is a harsh, sawing 'rak rak rak' that is given during flight. They also produce loud raucous calls during flight displays and will perch to sing.
Lilac-breasted rollers are carnivores. They feed on arthropods and small vertebrates, including ground-dwelling insects, spiders, scorpions, centipedes and millipedes, snails, and a variety of small vertebrates, including small birds.
Lilac-breasted rollers are monogamous birds believed to mate for life. Pairs nest solitary and are protective of their nest and one of the pair will fly in a rolling pattern as a territorial display against intruders or distract nest predators. During courtship, a Lilac-breasted roller will fly upwards and then tip forward with the wings closed, before flapping to gain speed towards the ground. While leveling out at the highest speed the bird will roll to the left and right a few times, uttering a harsh, raucous 'kaaa, kaarsh', before swooping up again. The display may end with a harsh chuckling. The breeding season occurs at various times of the year, depending on the location; in Somalia, these birds breed from late April to mid-September. They build flat nests of grass in a baobab, dead coconut, casuarina, or Terminalia tree. The nest is situated in a hollowed-out tree cavity some 5 meters (16 ft) off the ground, or even on the side of a termite mound. Lilac-breasted rollers do not create the cavities themselves but take over nest spaces that have been previously hollowed out by woodpeckers or kingfishers. Females lay 2-4 eggs per breeding season and both partners will take turns incubating the eggs for 22 to 24 days. Hatchlings are born altricial (helpless), becoming fully feathered after 18-20 days. They will remain dependent on their parents for up to another month and will be ready to breed at the age of 2 years.
There are no major threats facing this species at present.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Lilac-breasted roller total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today remain stable.
