10 Things Most People Don't Know About Indian roller

10 Things Most People Don't Know About Indian roller

My last birding was a hot and humid day of mid July. The scorching sun on the sky. The grassland and bushes become greener due to the Monsoon rain. Suddenly a bird with blue shades fly smoothly from the corner of my eyesight. But within couple of seconds I'm able to identify the bird as an Indian roller. 

The Indian Roller is a pretty bird belonging to the roller family of birds. Indian rollers are distributed across Asia, from Iraq and the United Arab Emirates in south-western Asia through the Indian Subcontinent, including Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep islands, and the Maldives Islands. The main habitat of these birds includes cultivated areas, thin forest, and grassland. Indian rollers are generally solitary birds that are often seen perched on prominent bare trees or wires. After waking up, they spend a few minutes preening followed by flying around their roosting sites. 

                     

Indian roller on Banana plant

10 Facts on Indian roller Most People Don't Know 

• The Indian roller is the state bird of the Indian states of Odisha, Telangana, and Karnataka.
• The Indian roller is best known for its aerobatic displays of males during the breeding season.
• A brightly colored bird with various shades of blue on the wings, tails, and belly that are often more prominent in flight.

Indian roller in flight

• Indian roller favorite perching site is electric or telegraphic wires.

                             

                              

                                                      Indian roller on wire

• These birds communicate with each other using a harsh crow-like 'chack' sound.
• Generally, the rollers are monogamous and have only one partner.
• During the breeding season, males attract females with an aerobatic display which includes twists and turns that give these birds their English name of "rollers.
• Indian rollers are attracted by fires and they also often follow tractors to feed on disturbed invertebrates.
• Adding chopped feathers of the Indian roller to grass and feeding them to cows was believed to increase their milk yield.

Indian roller eating insect on bush

                                                         Indian roller eating insect on bush

• A local Hindi name of this bird is Neelkanth, meaning "blue throat"; this name is associated with the deity Shiva who drank poison resulting in the blue throat.