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European Roller

European Roller

Coracias garrulus

Identify the European Roller by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The European Roller is the only roller breeding in Europe, with a range extending to north-west Africa and across western and Central Asia. A stocky, brilliant turquoise-blue bird with a warm brown back, it is named for its tumbling, rolling display flights. It is a long-distance migrant that winters in the dry savannas of eastern and southern Africa. It has declined in much of Europe and has disappeared from the north of its former range.

Did you know?

  • Its chicks can vomit a foul-smelling orange liquid over themselves to deter predators.
  • It is the only member of the roller family that breeds in Europe.

Voice

Sound

About the species

Identification

A bright blue bird with a rusty-brown back, a stout dark bill and broad, fairly round-tipped wings. In flight the strong contrast between the blue and the dark flight feathers stands out. It is told from bee-eaters and other colourful birds by its sturdy, stocky build and almost uniformly blue look accentuated by the brown back.

Family

Coraciidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

blue, brown, green, black

About the habitat

Warm, dry, open country with scattered old trees, open woodland, farmland and orchards; in winter wooded savanna.

Diet

Mainly large insects, especially beetles and grasshoppers, as well as other invertebrates and occasionally small lizards, frogs and rodents.

Behaviour

Hunts from exposed perches on trees, posts or wires, dropping to the ground to seize prey. In courtship it performs rolling, twisting display flights. The call is harsh and crow-like. It nests in unlined cavities, often old woodpecker holes, and both parents incubate and feed the young. Chicks can vomit a foul-smelling liquid to deter predators.

Sources

Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:European Roller (Coracias garrulus) (16475688389).jpg

Sound: paulo kivuyo, XC634335, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/634335

Text: Wikipedia (English) + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_roller

See also