# Racket-tailed Roller

_Coracias spatulatus_ · [Coraciidae](/family/coraciidae) · Resident

Knopsterttroupant

An uncommon resident of northern Kruger. Adults have a white forehead and eyebrow, a dull green crown, a rufous back, pale blue underparts with whitish streaking, and outer tail feathers that end in paddles. The southern birds lack the pink underparts of some northern populations. The sexes are not separately described. The juvenile is less vivid, browner above, more lilac on the cheeks and sides of the breast, and lacks the racket tips. The chick is not described.

- Status: Resident
- Months in Kruger: All year
- Size: 36–38 cm. Includes the tail streamers. Without them the bird is about 28–30 cm, and the streamers add about 8 cm. Newman's Birds gives 36 cm.
- Habitat: Well-developed broad-leaved woodland, including miombo and mopane. In South Africa it is a northern Kruger bird and is sparse south of the Limpopo.

## Photographs

![Adult Racket-tailed Roller facing the camera, with a white eyebrow and pale blue breast](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Racquet-tailed_Roller.jpg/1280px-Racquet-tailed_Roller.jpg)

Photograph, not AI-generated. Perched, front. Ltshears. CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Racquet-tailed_Roller.jpg. Not stored on this site yet.

![Racket-tailed Roller perched side-on in woodland in southern Mozambique](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Coracias_spatulatus%2C_southern_Mozambique_1.jpg/1280px-Coracias_spatulatus%2C_southern_Mozambique_1.jpg)

Photograph, not AI-generated. Perched, side. Brian Ralphs. CC BY 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coracias_spatulatus,_southern_Mozambique_1.jpg. Not stored on this site yet.

## Telling it apart

### Chick and juvenile vs adult

| Mark | Juvenile | Adult |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Face | lilac (#B07CC8) | white (#F4F4F2) |
| Back | brown (#6E4B32) | rufous (#C4622D) |
| Breast | blue (#2A5A9A), lilac (#B07CC8) | blue (#2A5A9A), white (#F4F4F2) |
| Wings from above | blue (#2A5A9A) | purple (#6A3A78), blue (#2A5A9A) |
| Tail shape | no elongated racket tips | outer feathers elongated, with paddle-shaped tips |

### Winter (non-breeding) vs summer (breeding) plumage

**No visible difference.**

### Male vs female

**No visible difference.**

### In flight, from above vs from below

| Mark | From above | From below |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wings | purple (#6A3A78), blue (#2A5A9A) | blue (#2A5A9A), purple (#6A3A78), black (#1A1A1A) |

**From above.** Purple upperwing with an azure-blue stripe, a rufous back, and paddle-tipped outer tail feathers.

**From below.** Pale blue underwing with a purplish-black trailing edge and tip.

### Perched or walking, from the front, back and side

**Front.** White forehead and eyebrow, and pale blue underparts with whitish streaking.

**Back.** Rufous back and a blue tail whose outer feathers end in paddles.

**Side.** Dull green crown, white eyebrow, rufous back, pale blue underparts, and the racket-tipped tail.

**Juvenile, side.** Browner upperparts, more lilac on the cheeks and the sides of the breast, and no racket tips.

### Calls and songs, males vs females

**No visible difference.**

The notes below are not separated by sex.

- Call: A harsh guttural shriek, uttered as it swoops; the sexes are not given different calls. Stephen Lowe. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://xeno-canto.org/660428. File: https://xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/IWRJOXRUFI/XC660428-150922_0833.mp3. Not stored on this site..
## Similar species

- [Coracias caudatus](/species/coracias-caudatus). Lilac-breasted Roller has a lilac breast and straight tail streamers, not paddle tips.
- [Coracias garrulus](/species/coracias-garrulus). European Roller has no tail streamers. Its back is brown and it lacks the racket-tailed roller's white forehead streak.
- [Coracias naevius](/species/coracias-naevius). Purple Roller has a square tail and purple underparts heavily streaked white.
- [Eurystomus glaucurus](/species/eurystomus-glaucurus). Broad-billed Roller has a yellow bill and cinnamon upperparts, and no racket tail.
## Sources

- Racket-tailed roller. Wikipedia. 2026 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racket-tailed_roller
- Racket-tailed Roller. Newman's Birds https://newmansbirds.com/birds/racket-tailed-roller/
- Racket-tailed Roller. The atlas of southern African birds. Avian Demography Unit. 1997 https://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/448.pdf
- Coracias spatulatus (Racket-tailed roller). Biodiversity Explorer https://www.biodiversityexplorer.info/birds/coraciidae/coracias_spatulatus.htm
- Birds of Kruger National Park – a checklist. Birda. 2026 https://birda.org/kruger-national-park-birding-checklist/
- Birds checklist – Kruger National Park. SANParks https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/explore/fauna-flora/birds/checklist

## Population

**Approximate estimate.** Kruger has no formal bird census. Any figure here is approximate.

No numeric estimate yet.

Trend: Unknown.

No Kruger census figure was found. The Birda SABAP2 Kruger checklist, consulted on 2 November 2026, lists 166 records. That is a count of atlas records, not birds. SABAP1 calls it nowhere common and restricts the South African population, apart from vagrants, to northern Kruger. Wikipedia, citing the IUCN, says the wider population trend is thought to be declining because of woodland loss, and that the global status is Least Concern. That is not entered as a Kruger count or a park trend.

### Sources

- Birds of Kruger National Park – a checklist. Birda. 2026 https://birda.org/kruger-national-park-birding-checklist/
- Racket-tailed Roller. The atlas of southern African birds. Avian Demography Unit. 1997 https://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/448.pdf
- Racket-tailed roller. Wikipedia. 2026 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racket-tailed_roller
- Birds checklist – Kruger National Park. SANParks https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/explore/fauna-flora/birds/checklist

---

Also available as [HTML](/species/coracias-spatulatus) and [JSON](/species/coracias-spatulatus.json).