Lilac-breasted Roller
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[Photo] Lilac-breasted Roller (Coracias caudata), with grasshopper meal, on Acacia tree, in Botswana Africa. Date 2002-05-19. Photo by Calvin Bradshaw (www.calvinbradshaw.com)

The Lilac-breasted Roller, Coracias caudata, is a member of the roller family of birds. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula and largely absent from treeless places, preferring open woodland and savanna. Usually found as a solitary bird or in pairs. It perches conspicuously at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from where it can spot insects, lizards, scorpions, snails, frogs, small birds and rodents moving about at ground level. Nesting takes place in a natural hole in a tree where a clutch of 2-4 eggs is 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 great heights, descending in swoops and dives, while uttering harsh, discordant cries. The sexes are alike in colouration.

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