AVITOPIA - Cuckoo-rollers

The only species of the family of Cuckoo rollers is restricted to Madagascar and the Comoros. The birds are 40 cm to 45 cm long. The large head sits on a short neck, the eyes are relatively far back. The sexes are very different, with the males the gray tones predominate, with the females the brown tones. They live solitarily or in pairs in light forests. There they look for small animals, especially grasshoppers and caterpillars, but also lizards and chameleons in the foliage. 3 to 5 eggs are laid in an unpadded cavity. The female incubates and is fed by the male for the entire 20 days of the breeding season. The young are fledged after about 30 days.