Lilacbreasted rollers

Lilacbreasted rollers are common residents in the north of South Africa and across those parts of sub-Saharan Africa where there are trees. Scientifically known as Coriacas caudatus, these photogenic birds perch spectacularly up high; at home in woodland and savanna. They sometimes operate solitary, otherwise in pairs.

They don’t eat grass, not even seeds. It’s insects or bigger in the carnivore diet range: the ambitious or ravenous go for snails, scorpions, frogs, rodents, small birds, lizards and even small snakes.

Rollers breed in natural holes in tree trunks, laying up to four white eggs. Both parents sit on the eggs that take 17 or 18 days to hatch. The male flies about and makes discordant noises in defending the nest. Then three weeks of parental duties and the children are off on their own. (If your kids are not gone after 25 years, come back as a roller.)

Juveniles lack the long tail feathers (Maclean, 1993; Wikipedia).