From Opus

Photo by wim de groot
Gambia, January 2005

Coracias abyssinica

Coracias abyssinicus

[edit] Identification

28-30 cm: Tail streamers 12cm

• Brown back
• Turquoise body
• Blue shoulders
• Dark bill and iris
• Legs and feet are horn-coloured
  

Sexes are similar
Juvenile is a duller version of the adult and lacks the tail streamers

Photo by mikemik
Yemen, November 2010

[edit] Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa: found from Senegambia to Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya; central Arabia

[edit] Taxonomy

Monotypic

[edit] Habitat

Acacia scub, dry savannah woodland and bushy grassland. Has also adapted to farmland and human habitation.

[edit] Behaviour

Performs aerial displays of diving, loop the loops & "rolling".

[edit] Diet

The diet includes large insects.

[edit] Breeding

It nests in a scantily lined hole in a tree or building, and lays 3-6 eggs.

[edit] Vocalisation

The call is a gak sound, or a screeched aaaargh.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links