Lesser Blue-eared Starling

Lamprotornis chloropterus

Photo by juninho
Location: Ulu, Kenya

Identification

Length 18-20 cm. A fairly small glossy starling with a narrow blue ear-patch and magenta belly and flanks.

Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa.

Taxonomy

Lamprotornis chloropterus has two subspecies:¹

• L. c. chloropterus

• Senegal to southern Sudan, western Eritrea, western Ethiopia, northern Uganda and western Kenya

• L. c. elisabeth

• Miombo woodlands of south-eastern Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, northern Mozambique and Zimbabwe
• Some authorities^2,3,4 consider this taxon to be a separate species, the Miombo Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis elisabeth.

Habitat

Woodland and wooded savanna.

Behaviour

Diet consists of fruit, seeds, nectar and insects (including beetles, termites, grasshoppers).

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Gill, F and M Wright. 2008. Birds of the World: Recommended English Names. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, USA. 2006. ISBN 9780691128276. Update (2008) downloaded from http://worldbirdnames.org/names.html.
3. 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
4. Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Lesser Blue-eared Starling. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Lesser_Blue-eared_Starling

External Links

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