By Jim Knox

Our Land Rover swung out wide to the left and turned down the rutted bush track. Swift movement to my right drew my eye high above. The bright South African sun caught the flash of color, reflecting it down to me. The creature zipped to a large horizontal branch forty feet up, where I studied it minutely.

The Lilac-Breasted Roller (Coracias Caudatus), is an African icon and a bird of the true bush. Also known as the Fork-Tailed Roller, Lilac-Throated Roller, and Mosilikatze’s Roller, this vivid bird is unmistakable. An inhabitant of Sub-Sahara Africa, and an occasional visitor to the Arabian Peninsula, it is a bird of tree-dotted savanna and open woodlands. One of nine species of its genus, these African birds are arguably the most well-known.

Possessing a modest 23-inch win

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