lilac breasted roller Fast Facts
Overview
The Lilac-breasted roller is a small bird that is beautifully coloured. Iridescent lilac feathers down the chest with blue feathers on its underbelly, on the wings it is blue tips and edges moving back to brown colour. It is widely distributed across Southern and Eastern Africa, found in open woodlands and savannahs. It prefers to perch at the top of trees and branches so that it has a good view of the ground, where it can hunt for insects and small amphibians. With smaller prey items, they will swallow them whole, however with larger prey items they will take them to a tree where they will bash them until they have been dismembered. They are often found alone or in pairs. They are quite vocal bird and will make a "rak rak rak" noise during flight.
Diet
These birds are carnivores, feeding on a diet of insects, spiders, scorpions, millipedes, snails and small birds.
Reproduction
During the breeding season, the birds follow a courtship display. Whereby they will dive towards the group and speed and then swoop back before rolling from side to side. A female will lay between 2 and 4 eggs, which hatch after 24 days.
Threats + Conservation
This species of bird is considered Least Concern by the IUCN Redlist and currently has no known threats.
Fun facts