Greater Blue-eared Starling - BirdForum Opus

Subspecies nordmanni
Photo © by max1
Satara, Kruger National Park, South Africa, September 2018

Alternative name: Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling

Lamprotornis chalybaeus

Identification

Juvenile
Photo © by nkgray
Lower Sabie Camp, Kruger National Park, South Africa, February 2011

21-24 cm (8¼-9½ in). A rather large starling with a relatively short tail.

• Blue-green forehead, crown, nape and upperparts
• Blackish lores
• Glossy-blue ear-coverts forming a distinctive patch
• Blue-green wings
• Glossy-blue green chin, throat, breast and undertail-coverts
• Blue flanks, belly and tighs with violet sheen.
• White to yellow to orange to red eye
• Black bill and legs

Sexes similar. Juveniles much duller.

Similar species

Lesser Blue-eared Glossy-Starling is smaller with a narrower ear patch and magenta belly and flanks. Bronze-tailed Glossy-Starling has a shorter tail and a darker orange-yellow eye. Cape Glossy-Starling has green ear patches, belly and flanks.

Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa:
Western Africa: found in Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Zaire
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal

Common in most of its range.

Taxonomy

Photo © by MAC-Kenya
Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya, February 2010

Subspecies

Lamprotornis chalybaeus has four subspecies:¹

• L. c. chalybaeus

• Senegal to eastern Sudan

• L. c. cyaniventris

• Eritrea and Ethiopia to western Kenya and eastern Uganda

• L. c. sycobius

• South-western Uganda to south-eastern Kenya, Tanzania, south-eastern Zaire and Mozambique

• L. c. nordmanni

• Southern Angola to Zimbabwe, southern Zambia, Botswana and north-eastern South Africa

Habitat

Dry savanna woodland, in some regions extending into desert.
Occurs largely above 500m.

Behaviour

Forages, often in flocks, on the ground and in trees.

Diet

Eats fruit, nectar and insects.

Breeding

Monogamous. The nest is built in a cavity (often an old woodpecker or barbet nest) in a tree. Two to five eggs are incubated for 13-14 days by the female.

parasitised by the Great Spotted Cuckoo and Greater Honeyguide.

Vocalisation

The song is rambling with a whining tone. The call is nasal squee-aar.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
3. Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
4. 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
5. Avibase

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Greater Blue-eared Starling. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Greater_Blue-eared_Starling

External Links

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