Roller European
Europese troupant
(Coracias garrulas)
The European roller (Coracias garrulus) is the only member of the roller family of birds to breed in Europe. Its overall range extends into the Middle East, Central Asia and Morocco.
The European roller is found in a wide variety of habitats, avoiding only treeless plains. It winters primarily in dry wooded savanna and bushy plains, where it typically nests in tree holes.
The rollers are medium-sized Old World birds of open woodland habitats. They have brightly coloured plumage and a hooked bill. Most are found south of the Sahara. The genus Coracias contains eight species of sit-and-wait hunters. The European roller is similar in appearance and behaviour to the Abyssinian roller, which appears to be its closest relative. These two birds and the lilac-breasted roller seem to share a common ancestry and could possibly be considered to form a subspecies.
The European roller was described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current name. The genus name derives from Greek; korakias refers to a type of crow, perhaps the red-billed chough. The species garrulus is from Latin and means chattering or noisy. Alternate names include the blue roller, common roller, Eurasian roller, or simply roller.
The advent of sufficiently lightweight tracking technology has facilitated several recent studies of roller migration, providing new information on the non-breeding sites used by rollers from different breeding populations. Individuals from south-west European populations migrate to south-west Africa (Angola, Namibia, Botswana), with French and north-Spanish birds taking a direct southerly route across the Sahara and Portuguese and south-Spanish taking a more westerly route around the west African coast. Rollers from eastern European populations also spend the winter period in southern Africa, but further east in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana. The Sahel savannah region immediately south of the Sahara Desert (particularly the area around Lake Chad) appears to be important for rollers from many populations as an autumn re-fuelling site, and Latvian and other north and north-eastern populations migrate northwards via the Arabian Peninsula in spring.Individuals from different breeding populations use distinct but overlapping winter sites; there is a good correlation between the longitude of individual breeding and non-breeding sites, suggesting parallel migration. In the east, the northernmost breeders (from Latvia) tend to winter south of the southernmost breeders (from Cyprus) - this suggests a pattern of 'leap-frog' migration.
Wikipedia
Roller European
Europese troupant
(Coracias garrulas)
The European roller (Coracias garrulus) is the only member of the roller family of birds to breed in Europe. Its overall range extends into the Middle East, Central Asia and Morocco.
The European roller is found in a wide variety of habitats, avoiding only treeless plains. It winters primarily in dry wooded savanna and bushy plains, where it typically nests in tree holes.
The rollers are medium-sized Old World birds of open woodland habitats. They have brightly coloured plumage and a hooked bill. Most are found south of the Sahara. The genus Coracias contains eight species of sit-and-wait hunters. The European roller is similar in appearance and behaviour to the Abyssinian roller, which appears to be its closest relative. These two birds and the lilac-breasted roller seem to share a common ancestry and could possibly be considered to form a subspecies.
The European roller was described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 under its current name. The genus name derives from Greek; korakias refers to a type of crow, perhaps the red-billed chough. The species garrulus is from Latin and means chattering or noisy. Alternate names include the blue roller, common roller, Eurasian roller, or simply roller.
The advent of sufficiently lightweight tracking technology has facilitated several recent studies of roller migration, providing new information on the non-breeding sites used by rollers from different breeding populations. Individuals from south-west European populations migrate to south-west Africa (Angola, Namibia, Botswana), with French and north-Spanish birds taking a direct southerly route across the Sahara and Portuguese and south-Spanish taking a more westerly route around the west African coast. Rollers from eastern European populations also spend the winter period in southern Africa, but further east in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana. The Sahel savannah region immediately south of the Sahara Desert (particularly the area around Lake Chad) appears to be important for rollers from many populations as an autumn re-fuelling site, and Latvian and other north and north-eastern populations migrate northwards via the Arabian Peninsula in spring.Individuals from different breeding populations use distinct but overlapping winter sites; there is a good correlation between the longitude of individual breeding and non-breeding sites, suggesting parallel migration. In the east, the northernmost breeders (from Latvia) tend to winter south of the southernmost breeders (from Cyprus) - this suggests a pattern of 'leap-frog' migration.
Wikipedia