NL·0374Herbarium of the Nature Library
- Name
- Coracias benghalensis
- Family
- Coraciidae
- Native to
- Iraq and the Persian Gulf east through Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to Myanmar
- Habitat
- Open woodland, Farmland, Scrub, Savanna
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Indian Roller
Live sightings near you, the range map, bar charts of when it is seen, and Macaulay Library photos and recordings.
Indian roller
Coracias benghalensis
Also calledNeelkanth (Hindi/Urdu) · Nilkontho (Bengali) · Panangkaadai (Tamil) · Zōngxiōng fófǎsēng 棕胸佛法僧 (Chinese)
A stocky, big-headed bird that looks dull brown when perched on a roadside wire, then opens its wings in flight to show electric bands of turquoise and deep violet-blue. In the breeding season the male tumbles and rolls through the air in display, the habit that gives rollers their name.
The Indian roller is a bird of the family Coraciidae. It is 30–34 cm (12–13 in) long with a wingspan of 65–74 cm (26–29 in) and weighs 166–176 g (5.9–6.2 oz). The face and throat are pinkish, the head and back are brown, with blue on the rump and contrasting light and dark blue on the wings and tail. The bright blue markings on the wing are prominent in flight. The sexes are similar in appearance. Two subspecies are recognised. Wikipedia
What it can do
- iHunts by watching from an exposed perch, then dropping onto large insects, lizards and small frogs on the ground
- iiPerforms a rolling, diving aerial courtship display with loud harsh calls
- iiiFollows tractors, grass fires and grazing cattle to snatch flushed insects
In the field
Field marks
- aThickset bird with large head and strong dark bill
- bPerched: rufous-brown breast and back, lilac-streaked throat, blue crown
- cIn flight: brilliant bands of pale turquoise and dark violet-blue across the wings
- dSquare blue tail with a dark terminal band
- Voice
- Harsh, crow-like 'chack' and grating 'kak-kak' calls, loudest during the rolling display flight
- Not to be confused with
- European roller (a passage migrant in Pakistan and NW India) has a plain pale-blue head and underparts with no brown or lilac breast; Indochinese roller (east of the Brahmaputra) has a dark purplish-brown face and breast without fine streaks.
- Where to see it
- Common along roadsides and farmland across the Indus plains of Punjab and Sindh and over most of India; easy at Keoladeo (Bharatpur) and Ranthambore
- When
- Resident; some local movements
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Life & habits
- Diet
- Large insects (grasshoppers, crickets, beetles), also scorpions, small lizards, frogs and rodents
- Habitat
- Open cultivation, grassland, light woodland and roadsides with plenty of perches
- Size
- About 30–34 cm long
Sits motionless on wires and dead branches for long spells, then drops to the ground for prey and returns to the same perch; in courtship it climbs steeply and plunges in twisting, rolling dives.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Native range
Iraq and the Persian Gulf east through Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to Myanmar
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
No plate in the Source Library names this exact species, so these show its closest relatives as the old naturalists drew them: same genus, or the same kind of animal. Click a plate to read the page it came from, with translation.
Historiae Animalium Liber III: De Avium Natura
Relative · Conrad Gesner · 1555 · p.715
Ornithology
Relative · Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1599 · p.803
History of Animals, Book I: On Viviparous Quadrupeds
Relative · Conrad Gessner · 1554 · p.860
Ornithology: The History of Birds
Relative · Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1599 · p.800
Ornithologiae: de avibus historiae libri XII
Relative · Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1599 · p.813
Ornithologiae: de avibus historiae libri XII
Relative · Ulisse Aldrovandi · 1599 · p.787
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Coracias benghalensis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
Marginalia
Its Hindi name Neelkanth ('blue throat') is an epithet of Shiva, and in much of north India seeing the bird on Dussehra is considered auspicious. It is the state bird of several Indian states, including Karnataka and Telangana.
Curiosity
The dull brown bird on the wire is the same one that flashes vivid blue in flight; the brightest colours are hidden on the wings until it moves.
Kinship
Photographs: iNaturalist contributors under the licences shown. Records: GBIF.org. Historical plates: Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0; originals public domain). Summary text: Nature Library editors and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Medicinal and edibility notes are historical and educational, not advice. iNaturalist taxon 979665.