| Oriental Dollarbird | |
|---|---|
| Adult | |
| Conservation status | |
| 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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| The Australian Distribution of the Dollarbird Note that this species is found out of Australia |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Oriental Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis), also known as the Dollar Roller, is a bird of the roller family, so named because of the distinctive blue coin-shaped spots on its wings.
It has a length of up to 30 cm, and can be found in east Asia from northern Australia to the Japan archipelago. The bird is an insectivore with a love of beetles and often catches prey whilst flying. The young birds have a darker beak which becomes more orange as it becomes mature.
It is most commonly seen as a single bird 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.
Media related to Eurystomus orientalis at Wikimedia Commons