Carraca picuda

Identificación

The broad-billed roller is 29–30 cm in length. It has a warm back and head, lilac foreneck and breast, with the rest of the plumage mainly brown. The broad bill is bright yellow. Sexes are similar, but the juvenile is a drabber version of the adult, with a pale breast.The broad-billed roller is striking in its strong direct flight, with the brilliant blues of the wings and tail contrasting with the brown back.<p>The call of the broad-billed roller is a snarling k-k-k-k-k-r-r-r-r-r sound.

Taxonomía

The broad-billed roller was formally described in 1776 by the German zoologist Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller under the binomial name Coracias glaucurus. The specific epithet is from Ancient Greek glaukos meaning "blue-grey". Statius Müller based his brief description on "Le Rollier de Madagascar" that had been described in 1775 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon and illustrated by Edme-Louis Daubenton. The type locality is Madagascar. The broad-billed roller is now placed in the genus Eurystomus that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the broad-billed roller was most closely related to the blue-throated roller (Eurystomus gularis). Alternate names for the broad-billed roller include the African broad-billed roller and the cinnamon roller.<p>Four subspecies are recognized:

Nombre científico

Eurystomus glaucurus

Autoridad

(Müller, PLS, 1776)

Orden

Coraciiformes

Familia

Coraciidae

Género

Eurystomus

Distribución y hábitat

This is a species of open woodland with some tall trees, preferably near water. These rollers often perch prominently on trees, posts or overhead wires, like giant shrikes.

Migración

Complete migrants

Comportamiento

They are inactive for most of the day, apart from chasing intruders, but in late afternoon they hunt for the swarming ants and termites on which they feed, sometimes in groups of 100 or more rollers. They drink like swallows, dipping their bills into water in flight.<p>This bird nests in an unlined hole in a tree cavity, laying 2-3 eggs.

Conservación

Tendencia poblacional

stable