THE purple roller is an uncommon resident found from Zululand across the whole interior of Southern Africa, but it is absent from coastal regions.
They like savanna and open woodland where they are usually solitary or found in pairs.
Being rather sluggish, they perch conspicuously on dead trees or telephone wires for long periods. Purple rollers display with rocking and rolling flight as the wings beat unevenly accompanied by a loud, somewhat nasal rasping ‘chik – kaaa, ka – ka – kaka’.
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Their food source is insects, small reptiles and scorpions which they catch on the ground. Breeding season is from September to December. The nest is a natural hole in a tree or the old nest of a woodpecker. Three to four white eggs are laid, the incubation and nestling periods are unrecorded and chicks are fed by both parents.
The tribal name is tlekedwani and in Afrikaans, die groottroupant.
