Lilac-breasted Roller
Coracias caudata
University Eldoret, Chepkoilel Campus, Kenya, January 2012.
These strikingly colored birds can be conspicuous or else merge into the bright blue sky when viewed from below. Thus the colors may be just right for hunting large insects and small lizards crawling on the ground. Rollers spot their prey from a high perch and dive down quickly to snatch it and return to their perch to consume it.
Coraciidae -- Roller Family
Books:
- Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania by Zimmerman et al.
- Birds of East Africa by Stevenson and Fanshawe