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Coracias abyssinicus
A stunning roller with a brilliant blue and brown plumage and long tail streamers, spotted here in Niamey near the river Niger. Found across tropical Africa in a belt south of the Sahara.
Garden with trees, close to river.
Over a three weeks stay in Niamey I saw this bird everyday close to the river. I only ever saw one bird at a time and I assumed it was the same individual. This bird is found in open country with some trees, as well as farmland and inhabited areas.
Spotted on Nov 28, 2009
Submitted on May 27, 2011
13 Comments
Thanks Satyen!
Beautiful! I might have missed it :-)
Thanks J! I love all rollers but this species has such spectacular streamers!
Stunning indeed!
Thanks Mayra!
Wonderful!!
You're welcome, Daniele! :) and thanks for that.
Thnanak you achmmad! I hope you win your camera:-)
Beautiful!
Akshay, hi and thanks for your comment. Yes, I've seen your Indian roller! You can see this spotting right next to that of the Abyssinian roller in my gallery. Both are of the genius Coracias but they are distinct species. Both are stunning birds of similar shape, with very different plumage though. Their distribution almost overlaps but not quite; I've seen the Abyssinian roller in Ethiopia and the Indian roller in the Arabic peninsula.
Wow , hey Daniele we in India have same species called as Indian Roller.
I agree he's a beauty Carolina! I nicknamed it "magic bird". He would appear everyday no matter what. I gave up IDying it at the time as all I had was a list of all (more than 550!) birds of Niger but no pictorial guide...
Beautiful!