Alternative name: Amethyst Starling
- Cinnyricinclus leucogaster
Identification
16cm
- Iridescent metallic purple head, throat, back and tail
- Deep purplish blue wings
- White breast and belly, occasionally lightly streaked
Female
- Brown head and back
- White belly, heavily streaked
Juvenile: similar to female
- Yellow eyes
Distribution
Africa south of Sahara and Arabian Peninsula:
Western Africa: Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, DRC, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Swaziland
Middle East: Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
Taxonomy
There are three recognized subspecies:
- C. l. leucogaster:
- C. l. verreauxi:
- C. l. arabicus:
- Northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, eastern Sudan, north-western Somalia and Arabian Peninsula
Violet-backed Starling is the only member of its genus.
Habitat
Mountain cliffs, savanna woodland (avoids thick evergreen forests), gardens, bushland near fruiting trees.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes fruit, especially figs, and some insects.
Breeding
They nest in tree holes lined with green leaves. The clutch consists of 2-4 pale blue oval eggs with reddish-brown spots. Incubated by the female for 2 weeks. Both adults care for the young for 3 weeks, feeding them mainly insects.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibase
- Paradise Earth
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Violet-backed Starling. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Violet-backed_Starling