Dollarbird

Dollarbird
Adult
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Coraciidae
Genus: Eurystomus
Species: E. orientalis
Binomial name
Eurystomus orientalis
Linnaeus, 1766
Distribution of the dollarbird
Synonyms
  • Eurystomus solomonensis

The dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis), also known as the Oriental dollarbird or dollar roller, is a bird of the roller family, so named because of the distinctive blue coin-shaped spots on its wings. It can be found in south-west Pacific and east Asia from northern Australia to the Japan archipelago and India.

Description

It has a length of up to 30 cm. It is basically dark brown but this is heavily washed with a bluish-green sheen on the back and wing coverts. Its belly and undertail coverts are light coloured, and it has glossy bright blue colouring on its throat and undertail. Its flight feathers are a darker blue. Its bill is short and wide and in mature animals is coloured orange-red with a black tip. It has very light blue patches on the outer parts of its wings which are highly visible in flight and for which it is named. The females are slightly duller than the males but the two are overall very similar. Immature birds are much duller than the adults and do not have the blue colouring on their throats. They also have brown bills and feet instead of the red of the adults.[2]

Range and habits

It is most commonly seen as a single bird with a distinctive upright silhouette on a bare branch high in a tree, from which it hawks for insects, returning to the same perch after a few seconds.

The birds breed in northern and eastern Australia between the months of September and March or April. The birds prefer open wooded areas with hollow-bearing trees to build nests in. They spend winters in New Guinea and nearby islands.[3]

Subspecies E. o. solomonensis (front), illustration by Keulemans, 1892
Two dollarbirds, Rush Creek, SE Queensland, Australia

Various views and plumages

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Eurystomus orientalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Eurystomus-orientalis
  3. ↑ http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Eurystomus-orientalis

Further reading

Media related to Eurystomus orientalis at Wikimedia Commons

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