Coracias caudatus
Silhouette: Hugo Gruson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The lilac-breasted roller (Coracias caudatus) is an African bird of the roller family, Coraciidae. It is widely distributed in Southern and Eastern Africa, and is a vagrant to the southern Arabian Peninsula. It prefers open woodland and savanna, and it is for the most part absent from treeless places. Usually found alone or in pairs, it perches at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from where it can spot insects, amphibians and small birds moving about on the ground. Nesting takes place in a natural hole in a tree where a clutch of 2–4 eggs are laid, and incubated by both parents, who are extremely aggressive in defence of their nest, taking on raptors and other birds. During the breeding season the male will rise to a fair height (69 to 144 metres), descending in swoops and dives, while uttering harsh, discordant cries. The sexes do not differ in coloration, and juveniles lack the long tail streamers of adults. This species is unofficially considered the national bird of Kenya. Alternative names for the lilac-breasted roller include the fork-tailed roller, lilac-throated roller (also used for a subspecies of purple roller), Mosilikatze's roller, and troupand.
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| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Lilongwe | 🇲🇼 Malawi | |
| 3 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia | |
| 4 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 5 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Natura Artis Magistra | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 3 | Antwerp Zoo | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 4 | Dvůr Králové Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 5 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Bojnice Zoo | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 7 | Dierenpark Hoenderdaell | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 8 | Cologne Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | London Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | Affen- und Vogelpark Eckenhagen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Birdworld | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 12 | Espace zoologique de Saint-Martin-la-Plaine | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Santa Barbara Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Pyrénées Animal Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 15 | Zoo d'Upie | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 16 | Lakeland Wildlife Oasis | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 17 | Aquatopia | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 18 | Cologne Zoo Aquarium | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 19 | Landgoed Hoenderdaell | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Lilac-breasted Roller sighting in Selous Game Reserve on a given day, based on 22 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 26 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lilac-breasted Roller sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
18th of 40
Of the 40 parks where we can rate Lilac-breasted Roller sightings, Selous Game Reserve ranks 18th at about 50%. The best odds are in Tarangire National Park (Tanzania, about 90%), Moremi Game Reserve (Botswana, about 70%) and Liwonde National Park (Malawi, about 70%). All parks ranked.
Same order: Coraciiformes
The closest relatives of the Lilac-breasted Roller that you can see in Selous Game Reserve (order Coraciiformes, Rollers, Kingfishers, and Allies) are Pied Kingfisher (about 50%), Little Bee-eater (about 40%) and White-fronted Bee-eater (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lilac-breasted Roller is recorded against all the birds logged in Selous Game Reserve (22 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.
