European Roller

The European roller (Coracias garrulus) is the only member of the roller family of birds to breed in Europe. Its overall range extends into the Middle East, Central Asia and the Maghreb. The European roller is found in a wide variety of habitats, avoiding only treeless plains. Nests usually in tree holes. It winters in Southern Africa - primarily in dry wooded savanna and bushy plains. Taxonomy and systematics The European roller was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under its current the binomial name Coracias garrulus. The type locality is Sweden. The generic name derives from Greek korakias referring to a type of crow, perhaps the red-billed chough. The specific epithet garrulus is from Latin and means 'chattering' in reference to the bird’s calls. Alternate English names include the blue roller, common roller, Eurasian roller, or simply roller. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that the European roller was most closely related to the Abyssinian roller (Coracias abyssinicus).