Greater Blue-eared Starling
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The greater blue-eared starling or greater blue-eared glossy-starling (''Lamprotornis chalybaeus'') is a
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
that breeds from
Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 井仆井內丐中五 (Senegaali); Arabic: 塈堻媞塈 ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''R矇ewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 井仆不丐仆不五 ...
east to
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, S菲桑菲, tiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
and south through eastern
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
to northeastern
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
. It is a very common species of open woodland bird, and undertakes some seasonal migration.


Subspecies

There are four accepted subspecies: * ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus chalybaeus''
Sahel The Sahel (; ar, 堻塈堶 ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
region * ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus cyaniventris'' northeastern Africa * ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus nordmanni'' southern Africa * ''Lamprotornis chalybaeus scyobius'' central and East Africa


Description

The greater blue-eared starling is a 22 cm long, short tailed bird. This
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, ...
is glossy blue-green with a purple-blue belly and blue ear patch. Its iris is bright yellow or orange. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile is duller and has blackish brown underparts. The populations from southern
Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...
southwards are smaller than northern birds and are sometimes considered to be a separate subspecies, ''L. c. sycobius.'' The lesser blue-eared starling is similar to this species, but the blue of the belly does not extend forward of the legs. The greater blue-eared starling has a range of musical or grating calls, but the most familiar is a nasal ''squee-ar.''


Behaviour


Breeding

The greater blue-eared starling nests in holes in trees, either natural or excavated by
woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...
s or
barbets Barbet may refer to: * Barbet (dog), a dog breed * Various birds in the infraorder Ramphastides ** African barbet, part of the bird family Lybiidae ** New World barbet, the bird family Capitonidae ** Asian barbet The Asian barbets are a family ...
. It will also nest inside the large stick nests of the sacred ibis or
Abdim's stork Abdim's stork (''Ciconia abdimii''), also known as the white-bellied stork, is a stork belonging to the family Ciconiidae. It is the smallest species of stork, feeds mostly on insects, and is found widely in open habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa a ...
. A nest will include three to five eggs, which are usually greenish-blue with brown or purple spots, and hatch in 1314 days. The chicks leave the nest roughly 23 days after hatching. This species is
parasitised Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
by the great spotted cuckoo and occasionally by the
greater honeyguide The greater honeyguide (''Indicator indicator'') is a bird in the family Indicatoridae, paleotropical near passerine birds related to the woodpeckers. Its English and scientific names refer to its habit of guiding people to bee colonies. Claims t ...
.


Roosting

The greater blue-eared starling is highly gregarious and will form large flocks, often with other starlings. Its roosts, in reedbed, thorn bushes, or
acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
, may also be shared.


Feeding

Like other starlings, the greater blue-eared starling is an
omnivore 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 nutr ...
, taking a wide range of
invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...
s seeds and berries, especially
fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
s, but is diet is mainly
insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s taken from the ground. It will perch on livestock, feeding on insects disturbed by the animals and occasionally removing
ectoparasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
.


References

* *


External links

*Greater blue-eared starling
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q240445 greater blue-eared starling Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa greater blue-eared starling greater blue-eared starling greater blue-eared starling