Cape Glossy or Greater Blue-Eared Starling? (1 Viewer)

[OrxyEater]

This should be easy, but still I'm struggling.

Taken in Ghanzi, Botswana, Sept 2012. At this location it can only be one of the two above.

I can't decide if those are dark blue ear coverts (which the Greater Blue-Eared would have) or just shade, since the sun is coming from the side.

Furthermore I find it really difficult to say if the belly is green or blue.

I find the tips of the greater coverts to not be particularly prominent, which a Greater Blue-Eared is supposed to have.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[MacNara]

I'm not an expert, but here's what I wrote on another thread a couple of days ago based on my own experience trying to identify these:

Cape Glossy Starling is said by Sinclair/Sasol to have no face mask, but actually it has rather a dark blue or black hood. And the bird is mainly dark blue (back) and lighter blue (nape) with a greenish underside. And the orange eye often photographs red. In other words, the actual bird looks nothing at all like the picture in Sinclair/Sasol and if you didn't know or ask your friends on BirdForum (as I did when I saw it in Namibia) you wouldn't be able to identify it.

So, I think yours is a Cape Glossy.