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Starlings
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, known as murmuration. All members of the family ''Sturnidae'', commonly called sturnids, are known collectively as starlings. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. The family contains 128 species which are divided into 36 genera. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Starlings are native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas, as well as North America, Hawaii, and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Starling
The common starling (''Sturnus vulgaris''), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, and as European starling in North America, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of the year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the ''Mabinogion'' and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare. The common starling has about 12 subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to western Mongolia, and it has been introduced as an invasive species to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa and Fiji. This bird is resident in western and southern Europe and southwestern Asia, whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starlings
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, known as murmuration. All members of the family ''Sturnidae'', commonly called sturnids, are known collectively as starlings. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. The family contains 128 species which are divided into 36 genera. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Starlings are native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas, as well as North America, Hawaii, and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nias Hill Myna
The Nias hill myna or Nias myna (''Gracula robusta'') is a member of the starling family. It is an endemic resident of Nias and other nearby islands off western Sumatra. Clements lumps this species with the common hill myna. Description This large, stocky and superficially crow-like myna is the largest of the hill mynas and may be the largest living species in the starling family. It ranges from in total length. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is , the tail is , the bill is and the tarsus is . Body weight in the species has been reported as up to . The Nias hill myna has mainly purple-glossed black plumage. It has bright orange-yellow patches of naked skin and large fleshy yellow wattles on the side of its head and nape. There are large white wing patches, which are obvious in flight. The massive bill is mainly red and the strong legs are bright yellow. Behaviour This myna is arboreal and is found mainly in flocks in hill forests. Like most starlings, the Nias h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbott's Starling
Abbott's starling (''Arizelopsar femoralis'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ..., and its population is estimated at 2500–9999. This species, at long, is the smallest species of starling. It is in the monotypic genus ''Arizelopsar''. The name of the species commemorates William Louis Abbott (1860-1936), an American naturalist and collector, who studied the wildlife of the Indo-Malayan region. Diet The Abbott's starling feeds on insects and fruit, including the fruit of '' Cornus volkensii''. Description The Abbott's starling has a black head and breast with white underpa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamprotornis
''Lamprotornis'' is a large genus of glossy starlings all of which occur in Africa south of the Sahara. They have glossy blue or green upper parts, which is due to hollow melanin granules arranged in a single layer near the feather barbule's surface. This unique arrangement led to some glossy starlings formerly placed in the genus ''Spreo'' being transferred to ''Lamprotornis'', since they shared this feature (but see also below). The genus ''Lamprotornis'' was introduced by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1820. The type species was subsequently designated as the long-tailed glossy starling. The under parts of these species lack iridescence. They may be blue, purple, yellow or brown. Most ''Lamprotornis'' starlings have striking yellow or red irides and some have long tails. These glossy starlings are found in a variety of habitats from forests to open woodland and gardens. They nest in tree holes, either natural, or made by woodpeckers or barbets, and some wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hildebrandt's Starling
Hildebrandt's starling (''Lamprotornis hildebrandti'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It forms a superspecies with and has previously been included in the same species as Shelley's starling, a migratory species ranging from Ethiopia and Somalia to Kenya. Both of these species have also been combined into a superspecies with the chestnut-bellied starling of West Africa. It was originally placed in the now defunct genus ''Notauges''. The species is named for Johann Maria Hildebrandt, a German collector who was the first European to obtain specimens. Distribution and habitat Hildebrandt's starling is found in Kenya and Tanzania, where it occupies open country between . Its habitat is open woodland and open thornbrush country. The species is often recorded as being uncommon, but it varies from being fairly common to fairly uncommon. It is not considered threatened by the IUCN, and is listed as least concern. Its habitat is not threatened and it occurs in a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sturnus
''Sturnus'' is a genus of starlings. As discussed below, the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of this group is complex, and other authorities differ considerably in which species they place in this genus, and in the species boundaries within ''Sturnus''. The genus name ''Sturnus'' is Latin for "starling". This genus has representatives across most of Eurasia and one species, the Common starling, common or European starling, has been introduced to North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The more northerly breeding species are completely or partially Bird migration, migratory, wintering in warmer regions. The ''Sturnus'' starlings are terrestrial species; they walk rather than hop, and have modifications to the skull and its muscles for open-bill probing. The latter adaptation has facilitated the spread of this genus from humid tropical southern Asia to cooler regions of Europe and Asia. Starlings nest in holes in trees or buildings. They are Omnivore, omnivorous and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swarm Behaviour
Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving ''en masse'' or migrating in some direction. It is a highly interdisciplinary topic. As a term, ''swarming'' is applied particularly to insects, but can also be applied to any other entity or animal that exhibits swarm behaviour. The term '' flocking'' or ''murmuration'' can refer specifically to swarm behaviour in birds, '' herding'' to refer to swarm behaviour in tetrapods, and ''shoaling'' or ''schooling'' to refer to swarm behaviour in fish. Phytoplankton also gather in huge swarms called ''blooms'', although these organisms are algae and are not self-propelled the way animals are. By extension, the term "swarm" is applied also to inanimate entities which exhibit parallel behaviours, as in a robot swarm, an earthquake swarm, or a swarm of stars. From a more abstract point ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propagated using the movements of humans and other animals in a symbiotic relationship that is the means for seed dispersal for the one group and nutrition for the other; humans, and many other animals, have become dependent on fruits as a source of food. Consequently, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the world's agricultural output, and some (such as the apple and the pomegranate) have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. In common language and culinary usage, ''fruit'' normally means the seed-associated fleshy structures (or produce) of plants that typically are sweet (or sour) and edible in the raw state, such as apples, bananas, grapes, lemons, oranges, and strawberries. In botanical usage, the term ''fruit'' als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. Phylogeneti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenrick's Starling
Kenrick's starling (''Poeoptera kenricki'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. Taxonomy Kenrick's starling was described by George Ernest Shelley in 1894 and was named after Major Reginald Watkin Edward-Kenrick, an officer in the British army who collected the holotype in the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. Shelley placed the starling in the obsolete genus ''Stillbopsar'', which was composed of it alongside Stuhlmann's starling. It is now placed in the genus ''Poeoptera'', meaning "poet bird" in Greek, with Poeo being a variation of the Greek poiéō which means "to create" - being the origin of ''poema'', the Latin word for poem - and ptera coming from the pterá which means wing. Up until the mid 20th century, some authorities considered it conspecific with Stuhlmann's starling, or treated it as one single subspecies. There are currently two recognized subspecies: *''P. k. kenricki'' - ( Shelley, 1894): Nominate subspecies, d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
