Lilac Breasted Roller essays

Lilac Breasted Roller essays Coracias caudata is commonly referred to as the Lilac-breasted Roller, belonging to the taxon: Aves; Coraciiformes (hornbills, kingfishers, rollers); Coraciidae (rollers); Coracias caudata. The Lilac-breasted Roller is a medium sized bird with a lilac breast. Coracias caudata inhabits eastern and southern Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambabwe, and Malawi. This roller inhabits Acacia savannas with well spaced trees and brushlands. It can be found in open brush coutry wher isolated trees serve as vantage points. The name roller is derived from their acrobatic flights, aerial gymnastics and tumbling during courting rituals. The rollers characteristic rolling is a territorial advertisement usually performed after copulation against intruders or to draw attention away from a nest or chicks. When rolling, the bird flies strongly upward for about thirty feet, then tips forward and falls with closed wings. The roller plummets, picking up speed, occasionally flapping its wings to gain even more speed. It then levels its flight, rolls to the right and then the left. It will do this five or six times in a matter of seconds. The bird may then sweep upwards, close its wings and lose speed until it tips forward into a repeat of the roll sequence. During breeding season, a display can be observed between rival males or a courting pair. The two birds will sit on separate perches near each other and call repeatedly. They will flatten their bodies, lower their heads, raise their crown feathers, and lift and spread their tail feathers almost vertical. Facing each other, one attacks and they both fly up, chest to chest with flailing wings, apparently attempting to claw at each other. At this point they may fall to the ground and struggle for a short time. Then one bir ...