Chestnut-tailed Starling

The chestnut-tailed starling (''Sturnia malabarica''), also called grey-headed starling and grey-headed myna is a member of the starling family. It is a resident or partially migratory species found in wooded habitats in India and Southeast Asia. The species name is after the distribution of a former subspecies in the Malabar region. While the chestnut-tailed starling is a winter visitor to peninsular India, the closely related resident breeding population with a white head is now treated as a full species, the Malabar starling (''Sturnia blythii'').

Taxonomy and distribution

The lack of monophyly in the earlier starling genera has led to this species being placed variously under genus ''Sturnia'', ''Sturnus'' and ''Temenuchus'' in the past (Zuccon ''et al.'', 2006) and studies have suggested the reuse of an old name ''Temenuchus'' for members of this clade. Later studies have suggested placement in the genus ''Sturnia''.

There are two subspecies of the chestnut-tailed starling:

*''S. m. malabarica'': northeastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and northwestern Burma
*''S. m. nemoricola'': southern China, Taiwan, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia

Both the nominate subspecies and ''nemoricola'' are known to perform some poorly understood movements (e.g., ''S. m. malabarica'' has been recorded from Pakistan and in central and southern India).

The taxon ''blythii'' is now usually (e.g. Rasmussen & Anderton, 2005) considered a valid species, the Malabar starling or white-headed myna (''Sturnia blythii''), instead of a subspecies of ''Sturnia malabarica''. As ''S. m. malabarica'' only visits the range of ''blythii'' during the non-breeding period (winter), the two are not known to interbreed. However, a molecular study found the genetic divergence between ''S. blythii'' not significantly greater (between 0.2% and 0.8%) than between the sisters ''S. m. malabarica'' of northern India and ''S. m. nemoricola'' of Burma and Vietnam.Zuccon, D., Pasquet, E. & Ericson, P. G. P. (2008). Phylogenetic relationships among Palearctic–Oriental starlings and mynas (genera Sturnus
and Acridotheres : Sturnidae). Zoologica Scripta, 37:469–48
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Description

The adults have a total length of approximately . They have grey upperparts and blackish remiges, but the colour of the remaining plumage depends on the subspecies. In the nominate subspecies and ''blythii'', the underparts (incl. undertail) are rufous, but in ''nemoricola'' the underparts are whitish tinged rufous, especially on the flanks and crissum (the undertail coverts surrounding the cloaca). The nominate and ''nemoricola'' have a light grey head with whitish streaking (especially on crown and collar region). Both subspecies have white irises and a yellow bill with a pale blue base. The sexes are similar, but juveniles have whitish underparts and just chestnut tips to the tail feathers.

Behaviour

The chestnut-tailed starling's nest is typically found in open woodland and cultivation, and it builds a nest in an old barbet or woodpecker hole in a tree-trunk, up. The normal clutch is 3-5 eggs, pale blue, unmarked. The nesting season is usually March to June.

Like most starlings, it is fairly omnivorous, eating fruit, nectar and insects. They fly in tight flocks and often rapidly change directions with great synchrony.

Notes

References

*Grimmett, Richard; Inskipp, Carol, Inskipp, Tim & Byers, Clive (1999): ''Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives''. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J..
*Rasmussen, Pamela C. & Anderton John C. (2005): ''Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide''. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions.
*Zuccon D, Cibois A, Pasquet E, Ericson PG. (2006) Nuclear and mitochondrial sequence data reveal the major lineages of starlings, mynas and related taxa. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 41(2):333-44.

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1048674

chestnut-tailed starling
Birds of Bangladesh
Birds of South China
Birds of South Asia
Birds of Southeast Asia
chestnut-tailed starling
chestnut-tailed starling
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