Blue-throated Roller
Eurystomus gularis
A large-billed roller of primary and secondary forests that is often found sitting on branches overlooking clearings or in the canopy. Distinctive, with a bronze-colored body, a blue throat, a pale yellowish bill, and blue tail and flight feathers. Resembles and occurs alongside the related Broad-billed Roller, but Blue-throated Roller differs in its blue throat and bronzier body. Voice is a harsh “kleek,” often delivered noisily in rapid succession.
Identification
The blue-throated roller is a dumpy, large-headed, thick-necked bird that frequents the tops of trees. Overall, it is a dark bird, mainly chestnut brown with a bright yellow bill and a blue patch on the throat, a blue tail and purplish blue wings. The juvenile shows bluish on the underparts. It is a rather long-winged roller and can give a falcon like silhouette in flight. It measures 25 cm in length; the males weigh 82–117.5 g, the females 88–108g.
Taxonomy
The blue-throated roller was formally described in 1819 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot under its current binomial name Eurystomus gularis. The specific epithet gularis is Modern Latin meaning "-throated". Vieillot based his description on a specimen in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris which he mistaken believed had been collected in "Australasie"; the type locality has been designated as Senegal. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the blue-throated roller was most closely related to the broad-billed roller (Eurystomus glaucurus).<p>Two subspecies are recognized:
- Scientific name
- Eurystomus gularis
- Authority
- Vieillot, 1819
- Order
- Coraciiformes
- Family
- Coraciidae
- Genus
- Eurystomus
Range and habitat
The blue-throated roller occurs in western sub-Saharan Africa from Guinea to Cameroon, south to northern Angola, and west to south-eastern Uganda. It is also found on Bioko Island.<p>The blue-throated roller tends to remain high up in the tops of trees and hunts above the canopy of primary and secondary rainforest, plantations, gallery forests and relict forest patches in cleared regions. They prefer clearings, riversides and giant emergent trees.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The blue-throated roller perches high up, either singly or in pairs, on bare branches, frequently at the very top of the canopy. They often sit for long periods, and sometimes make their shrill chattering calls. When active they hawk insects in the air and aggressively defend their territory from other bird species. In the late afternoon the birds gather in small flocks, often mixed with broad-billed rollers, to feed on ants and termites which emerge after a rainfall. The rollers feed on these insects in flight, acrobatically chasing them and eating them on the wing. This activity continues until dusk and one roller may eat over 700 insects weighing 40g.<p>The blue-throated roller is a territorial species when breeding and both courtship and territorial defence involve noisy aerial chases. The nest is an unlined cavity, normally about 10m up the trunk of a tree on the edge of a clearing; 2-3 eggs are laid with laying recorded in February to March in the Ivory Coast, February to April in Ghana, April and September in Nigeria, January in Gabon, and April and October in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Indigo Bunting
Passerina cyanea
Breeding males are entirely blue with a slightly darker head. Females are plain brown with a whitish throat, bluish tail, and faint streaks on the underparts. Breeds in shrubby areas at the edge of forests and fields. Males often sing from a high exposed perch. Winters mainly in Middle America and the Caribbean, where it frequently gathers in flocks in weedy fields. Females can be very difficult to distinguish from Lazuli Bunting, although their range doesn't overlap much. Indigo usually shows more streaking on the underparts; also note fainter wingbars, duller breast, and more contrasting whitish throat.
Galapagos Flycatcher
Myiarchus magnirostris
Drab but entertaining flycatcher endemic to Galápagos. Plumage is largely brownish-gray with a yellow belly, pale gray throat, and white wingbars; head has a rusty tinge in fresh plumage. Also note stout bill. The only member of its genus found in Galápagos, greatly simplifying ID. Completely fearless of people. Energetically chases insects from the ground or from elevated perches, such as bushes, cacti, spotting scopes, and surprised tourists.
European Red-rumped Swallow
Cecropis rufula
Brightly-colored swallow with a deeply forked tail, pale orangish rump, black squared-off undertail coverts, an incomplete orange collar, and faint streaking below. Juveniles average paler and lack extensive orangish tones; may resemble house-martins but note deeply forked tail. Typically glides on stiff, flat wings, flying quite languidly with shallow wingbeats. Builds mud nests in mountains, on sea cliffs, and on buildings and other structures. Forages over open areas. Frequently gives a short, sparrow-like “twi’wit.” Very similar to African Red-rumped Swallow, but shows much heavier streaking below.
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