IDENTITY:

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.

HABIT AND HABITAT:

The oriental dollarbird is most commonly seen singly 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.

FOOD:

Dollarbirds feed almost exclusively on flying insects. They search for food from a conspicuous perch and then capture it in skilful aerial pursuits, before returning to the same perch. Occasionally, Dollarbirds have been seen feeding on grasshoppers on the ground, although this practice is uncommon.

VOICE:

A raucous check, check.

INFO:

The Oriental dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis) is a bird of the roller family, so named because of the distinctive blue coin-shaped spots on its wings. It can be found from Australia to Japan and India.
The oriental dollarbird was originally described in the genus Coracias. Formerly, some authorities have also considered the broad-billed roller and the azure dollarbird to have been subspecies of the oriental dollarbird. Alternate names for the oriental dollarbird include the Asian dollarbird, dark roller, dollar roller, dollarbird, eastern broad-billed roller and oriental broad-billed roller.