As their names indicate, lilac-breasted rollers are very colorful and identified by their lilac throats and breasts. They also have light olive-chestnut back, dark blue wing coverts, and deep blue underparts. Their outer tail streamers are slender and straight (see "Birds of East Africa). They drop on prey on the ground from prominent perches, like this one in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater at the tip of a thorn-laden branch of an Acacia tree.