European Roller, a fully migrant species found in West Asia and European countries, was photographed from Kerala recently.
A single individual of the species was photographed from Meppayoor in Kozhikode. Though there were earlier unconfirmed reports of spotting the bird in the State, a photographic evidence of the bird was obtained from Kozhikode, said Satyan Meppayoor, a bird enthusiast who photographed it.
In India, the species is found in Greater Himalaya region too.
Though the bird is considered a native of a large number of countries, it has been classified as Near Threatened, considering the decline in its population, according to BirdLife International, a global partnership of conservation organisations.
Though the populations in the Middle East and Central Asia have not apparently shown decline, the “Northern European populations of the species have shown the most dramatic declines in recent years, and in Russia it has now disappeared from the northern part of its range. Southern European population has also declined,” according to the agency.
According to BirdLife International, the species is extinct in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland possibly due to habitat loss caused by agricultural intensification, it said.
