Usually found alone or in pairs, it perches at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from where it can spot insects, amphibians and small birds moving about on the ground.

During the breeding season the male will rise to a fair height (69 to 144 metres), descending in swoops and dives,[3] while uttering harsh, discordant cries.

The lilac-breasted roller was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Coracias caudata.

[4] Linnaeus based his description on "Le Rollier d'Angola" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson.

[6] The lilac-breasted roller is one of nine species in genus Coracias, a group native to the open woodlands of western Eurasia and Africa.

[9] In the field, these robust, large-headed birds are often perched alone on a tree in a grassy clearing, and are almost unmistakable with their colourful plumage tones.

[10] Its counterpart, the lilac-throated roller (C. c. lorti) migrates from northeast Kenya to northwest Somalia to breed from late April to mid-September.

[11] Both subspecies live in open savannah habitats with scattered trees and shrubs, as the birds require higher perches for feeding and nesting.

[9] In protected areas, lilac-breasted rollers are among the bird species that frequent the verges of roads, especially during fires, when the small animals and insects that emerge from cover are easily predated.

During courtship, a lilac-breasted roller will fly upwards and then tip forward with the wings closed, before flapping to gain speed towards the ground.

[3] While leveling out at highest speed the bird will roll to the left and right a few times, uttering a harsh, raucous "kaaa, kaarsh",[10] before swooping up again.

[11] If another male enters another territorial ground, they are presume to be rivals and would fight one another by thrusting, beating each others wings, and claw one another while flying upwards.

Slow-moving lizards, chameleons and snakes, and the blind, burrowing Afrotyphlops and Leptotyphlops species are especially vulnerable to them when crossing roads.