Skip to content

European Rollers Used Grasslands From Breeding Grounds to African Wintering Areas

European roller flying against a blue sky
Research · Ecology

European rollers (Coracias garrulus) migrate thousands of kilometres between breeding areas in Europe and Asia and non-breeding areas in Africa. A tracking study published in January 2026 shows that grasslands are important to the species across much more of this annual cycle than the breeding season alone.

Researchers followed rollers breeding in the Carpathian Basin between 2015 and 2021 using several types of tracking devices. Combining methods allowed them to examine fine-scale movements around breeding territories as well as long-distance migration routes, stopovers and wintering areas in Africa.

Core breeding areas contained a high proportion of grassland

On the breeding grounds, the core areas used most intensively by the birds contained a particularly high proportion of grassland. Rollers with more grassland available used smaller core areas and smaller overall home ranges. The authors treat a higher grassland proportion as a sign of better habitat quality: where suitable open foraging habitat is concentrated, birds can meet their needs within a smaller area. Home ranges also expanded as the breeding season progressed into the more active chick-feeding period. Open habitats provide the large insects and other prey that rollers typically catch from exposed perches.

Tracking identified 108 stopover sites outside the breeding season

The tracking data identified 108 stopover sites outside the breeding season. Birds used more stopovers during the autumn migration to Africa than during their spring return. Two important autumn stopover regions occurred south of the Sahara and farther towards the equatorial zone, and the birds generally spent more time at the sub-Saharan stops.

Map of European roller autumn and spring migration routes between Europe and Africa
The tracked rollers followed broad migration routes between the Carpathian Basin and Africa, with autumn and spring paths, stopovers and wintering areas shown separately. Figure 3 from Kiss et al. (2026), Movement Ecology, CC BY 4.0. Source.

After migration, the tracked rollers spread across a broad east–west area in southern Africa. Grassland was the dominant habitat associated with their locations and was especially important during the wintering period. This means that a bird breeding in a well-protected European landscape may still depend for much of the year on open habitats thousands of kilometres away.

The study highlights why migratory bird conservation has to consider the entire annual cycle. Protecting nesting sites is important, but losses or degradation of grasslands at African stopovers and wintering areas can affect the same birds. For a long-distance migrant such as the European roller, conservation therefore needs to connect breeding areas, migration routes and non-breeding habitats across continents.

Sources and image credit

  1. Kiss, O., Wong, J. B., Tokody, B., Daróczi, S. J., Bărbos, L., & Kelemen, A. (2026). The global importance of grasslands underlined by the combination of multiple telemetry tracking techniques of a trans-equatorial loop migrant bird, the European roller (Coracias garrulus). Movement Ecology, 14, 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-026-00625-1Primary peer-reviewed open-access study, published 23 January 2026; CC BY 4.0.

Image: Charles J. Sharp — European roller in flight near Kecskemét, Hungary; representative image. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Ecology

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

European Roller Coracias garrulus Explore species

Independent research and conservation news archive

Did you find this information useful?

Wildlife Vagabond is independently built and maintained. Voluntary support helps cover source verification, hosting and continued work on research and conservation news.

Support Wildlife Vagabond

The news archive will remain freely available.