Coracias cyanogaster
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The blue-bellied roller (Coracias cyanogaster) is a member of the roller family of birds which breeds across Africa in a narrow belt from Senegal to northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is resident, apart from some local seasonal movements, in mature moist savannah dominated by Isoberlinia trees.
The blue-bellied roller was given the binomial name Coracias cyanogaster in 1816 by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier based on "Le Rollier à ventre bleu" that had been described and illustrated by François Levaillant in 1806. The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek kuanos meaning "dark-blue" with gastēr meaning "belly". Levaillant mistaken believed that the specimen had been collected on the island of Java. The species is resident in West-Africa and the type location was later designated as Senegal. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The phylogenetic relationships among the Coracias species are shown below, from the molecular study by Johansson et al. (2018) The blue-bellied roller is a large bird, nearly the size of a jackdaw at 28–30 cm (11–12 in). It has a very dark brown back, buffy or chalky white head, neck and...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Mole National Park | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 3 | Kakum National Park | 🇬🇭 Ghana |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 2 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 3 | Accra | 🇬🇭 Ghana | |
| 4 | Kolkata | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | SeaWorld Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | North Carolina Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Dvůr Králové Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 7 | Réserve africaine de Sigean | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Abilene Zoological Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | San Diego Zoo Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Toronto Zoo | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 13 | Columbus Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Kansas City Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Nashville Zoo at Grassmere | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Oakland Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | The Maryland Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Toledo Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Detroit Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 23 | Audubon Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 24 | Saint Louis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 25 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 26 | Caldwell Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 27 | Woodland Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 28 | Wrocław Zoological Garden | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 29 | San Francisco Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 30 | Moody Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 31 | Franklin Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 32 | ZooTampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 33 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 34 | Indianapolis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 35 | Oregon Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 36 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 37 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 38 | San Antonio Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 39 | Cameron Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 40 | Cologne Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 41 | Philadelphia Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 42 | Attica Zoological Park | 🇬🇷 Greece | |
| 43 | London Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 44 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 45 | Cleres Zoological Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 46 | Lincoln Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 47 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 48 | Biotropica | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 49 | Gladys Porter Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 50 | The Abilene Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-bellied Roller sighting in Mole National Park on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 172nd most-seen of the 266 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Blue-bellied Roller in Mole National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and April, the lowest months. Those are among Mole National Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against almost none in January. July has too few records to rate.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blue-bellied Roller sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Blue-bellied Roller sightings, Mole National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Niokolo-Koba National Park (Senegal, about 20%).
Same genus: Coracias
The closest relatives of the Blue-bellied Roller that you can see in Mole National Park (genus Coracias, Typical Rollers) are Abyssinian Roller (about 30%) and Rufous-crowned Roller (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blue-bellied Roller is recorded against all the birds logged in Mole National Park (41 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
