Lets keep it in the family!!!.. On more beautiful than the other, but actually both beautiful…
We have the Lilac-Breasted Roller and the Purple Roller that grace our continent and we have the European Roller that visits our shores. All are so colourful and unusually marked.
The Lilac-breasted Roller (Coracias caudatus)…
and the Purple Roller (Coracias naevius)….
Still well coloured….
You think you own whatever land you land on
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You’ll learn things you never knew you never knew
Lyrics of Vanessa Williams song Colours of the wind…..
Step aside Lorna, as I introduce you to Vanessa the most beautiful bird in the world…..
Could u be the most beautiful girl in the world?
Its plain 2 see ure the reason that God made a girl
When the day turns into the last day of all time
I can say I hope u are in these arms of mine
Do you know what song these lines are from?????
I have posted on this bird before and to see that post CLICK HERE.
During the breeding season, the male will fly to great heights, and descend in swoops and dives, uttering harsh inconsistent cries to it’s normal. I wonder if that is where the name Roller comes from… and a little more research uncovers the following … “Rollers get their name from their impressive courtship flight, a fast, shallow dive from considerable elevation with a rolling or fast rocking motion, accompanied by loud raucous calls.” well I was right then…
This species is the national bird of Botswana and Kenya. (Now I didn’t know that, just shows what a bit of research can uncover)
The average size of the Lilac Breasted Roller is 14.5 inches. The washed green head is large, the neck is short, the greenish yellow legs are rather short and the feet are small. The beak is strong, arched and hooked-tipped. The tail is narrow and of medium length. The back and scapulars are brown. (Damn this sounds like a lot of people I know)….
The Lilac Breasted Roller feeds on grasshoppers, beetles, occasionally lizards, crabs, and small amphibians. They take prey from the ground.
To feed they swoop down from an elevated perch next to their prey and eat it on the ground or return to a perch where they batter it before swallowing it whole. (Missed the battering in these two photos)
Rollers get their name from their impressive courtship flight, a fast, shallow dive from considerable elevation with a rolling or fast rocking motion, accompanied by loud raucous calls. Click on link to hear a sound recording.. click on arrow below bird on web site.
The Photographic Journey of bulldog. 