The Roller

This species is rare. The roller, although smaller than a crow, looks like one. It is blueish-green. The feathers of the back and wings are brown. The beak is black, strong with a hooked beackcase.

They live in mature and aging forests, farmstead with old tree groups, in the parks, sometimes in the green areas of the suburbs, even in the trees near the roads where they can find hollows which are suitable for the making of the nests. TThe rollers fly home rather late, often at the begining of May. The monogamous roller- cock chooses the nesting territory. It defends this territory from other rollers. Rollers occupy teritorries at the edges of woods, near wooded areas, in green fields not far from water, and in meadows. If they don’t find natural hollows, they settle in the bird houses. The hen roller sits on the eggs and the roller-cock perches in the same or in an adjancent tree, protecting iits nest from intruders. Sometimes the roller-cock changes places with the hen roller. Young rollers are grey, yellowish brown. At first they are rather weak. For some time, especially if the weather is cold, the hen-roller warms the young birds. TThey feeds on large insects, may-bugs, dung-beetles, tar-insects, grasshoppers, crickets, scopions, dragon-flies, butterflies, flies, rarely on mice, lizards, and small frogs. Rollers can catch flying insects.

Rollers are beautiful and useful birds. Foresters shouldn’t cut the trees with hollows, because hollow birds nest there.