| Oriental dollarbird | |
|---|---|
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| Adult | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Coraciiformes |
| Family: | Coraciidae |
| Genus: | Eurystomus |
| Species: | E. orientalis |
| Binomial name | |
| Eurystomus orientalis (Linnaeus, 1766) | |
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| Distribution of the oriental dollarbird | |
| Synonyms | |
Coracias orientalisLinnaeus, 1766 | |
TheOriental dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis) is a bird of theroller family, so named because of the distinctive pale blue or white, coin-shaped spots on its wings. It can be found from Australia to Korea, Japan and India.
The Oriental dollarbird wasformally described by the Swedish naturalistCarl Linnaeus in 1766 in thetwelfth edition of hisSystema Naturae under thebinomial nameCoracias orientalis.[2] Linnaeus based his description on "Le Rollier des Indes" that had been described and illustrated by the French zoologistMathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.[3] Thetype locality is the island ofJava in Indonesia.[4] The Oriental dollarbird is now placed in the genusEurystomus that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologistLouis Pierre Vieillot.[5][6]
Amolecular phylogenetic study published in 2018 found that theazure dollarbird (Eurystomus azureus) was nested in aclade containingsubspecies of the Oriental dollarbird.[7] Formerly, some authorities have also considered thebroad-billed roller and theazure dollarbird to have been subspecies of the oriental dollarbird. The generic name derives fromAncient Greekeurustomos 'wide-mouthed' and the specific epithet is Latinorientalis 'eastern'.[8] Alternate names for the oriental dollarbird include theAsian dollarbird,dark roller,dollar roller,dollarbird,eastern broad-billed roller andoriental broad-billed roller.
Tensubspecies are recognized:[6]
The oriental dollarbird has a length of up to 30 cm. It is 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 overall the two are 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.[9]
The oriental dollarbird is found from Australia to Japan and India. At least some subspecies (for exampleE. o. pacificus) are migratory. It breeds in northern and eastern Australia between the months of September and April and winters in New Guinea and nearby islands. The birds prefer open wooded areas with hollow-bearing trees to build nests in.
The oriental dollarbird is most commonly seen singly with a distinctive upright silhouette on a bare branch high in a tree, from which ithawks for insects, returning to the same perch after a few seconds.
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| Other | |
