Alternative name: Sharp-tailed Glossy Starling
- Lamprotornis acuticaudus
Identification
20cm. A medium-sized starling with a rather short, graduated tail.
- Glossy green crown, nape, upperparts and wings
- Wings with dark blue terminal spots on wing-coverts and tertials
- Glossy green tail with faint barring
- Glossy green chin, throat, breast and undertail-coverts, some blue gloss on belly and flanks
- Red eye
- ecki with more greenish-blue gloss above
Sexes similar. Females have probably an orange eye.
Juveniles are matt grey with paler feather tips and a yellow eye.
Distribution
From Angola east to southern Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, southwest Tanzania and northeast Namibia and northwest Botswana.
Common in parts of its range, rare in Botswana.
Taxonomy
Two subspecies recognized:
May form a superspecies with Lesser Blue-eared Starling.
Habitat
Found in open woodland, especially dry miombo and mopane country. Occurs at 900 - 1700m.
Behaviour
Feeds on fruit and probably also on insects.
Usually seen in pairs or small flocks, non-breeding flocks up to 40 birds, sometimes together with Lesser Blue-eared Starling and Greater Blue-eared Starling.
Breeds from August to October in Angola, in October in Zambia and from November to March in Namibia. The nest is placed in a tree hole. One nest contained three youngs.
Presumably a resident species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Sharp-tailed Starling. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Sharp-tailed_Starling
