Birds Photo Click 62: European Roller.

Coracias garrulus

Photographed in Kenya.

The European Roller breeds in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Morocco.

It is a long distance migrant, wintering in Africa, south of the Sahara.

Photographed in Kenya.

They nest in holes in trees, mainly dug by other birds, such as woodpeckers, but where there is a lack of trees, they are also known to use holes in mounds located on the ground.

They like to perch in the open, from where they search and look out for food, which mainly consists of large insects, small reptiles, small mammals, mostly rodents and frogs.

A very peculiar behavior of the chicks is that as a defence mechanism to deter predators, they will vomit an orange liquid, onto themselves. The foul smell of this liquid, deters the would be predators but also alerts the adults on their return to the nest.