The chestnut-tailed starling (''Sturnia malabarica''), also called grey-headed starling and grey-headed myna is a member of the

starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...

family. It is a resident or partially migratory species found in wooded habitats in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. The species name is after the distribution of a former subspecies in the

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

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 The Malabar starling (''Sturnia blythii'') is a species of starling found in southwestern India. It was previously considered a subspecies of the chestnut-tailed starling The chestnut-tailed starling (''Sturnia malabarica''), also called grey ...

(''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 In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the chestnut-tailed starling: *''S. m. malabarica'': northeastern India,

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and northwestern

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

*''S. m. nemoricola'': southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, Burma,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Both the

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

and ''nemoricola'' are known to perform some poorly understood movements (e.g., ''S. m. malabarica'' has been recorded from

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and in central and southern India). The

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

''blythii'' is now usually (e.g. Rasmussen & Anderton, 2005) considered a valid species, the

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 In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...

. 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 Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

, 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 A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

surrounding the

cloaca In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds, a ...

). 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 An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutri ...

, 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 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. ...

Birds of Bangladesh Birds of South China Birds of South Asia Birds of Southeast Asia

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