Hildebrandt's Starling
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Hildebrandt's starling (''Lamprotornis hildebrandti'') is a species of
starling 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, know ...
in the family Sturnidae. It forms a
superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
with and has previously been included in the same species as
Shelley's starling Shelley's starling (''Lamprotornis shelleyi'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in East Africa, within the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, and Tanzania. The common name and Latin binomia ...
, a migratory species ranging from
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
and
Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
to
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
. Both of these species have also been combined into a superspecies with the
chestnut-bellied starling The chestnut-bellied starling (''Lamprotornis pulcher'') is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. This is a common resident in arid Sahelian acacia savanna, namely in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea ...
of West Africa. It was originally placed in the now defunct genus ''Notauges''. The species is named for
Johann Maria Hildebrandt Johann Maria Hildebrandt (born 13 or 19 March 1847; died 29 May 1881) was a German explorer, collector, and scientist. Biography Hildebrandt was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, to a family of painters. Originally a machine maker, he lost an eye ...
, a German collector who was the first European to obtain specimens.


Distribution and habitat

Hildebrandt's starling is found in
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
and
Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
, 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 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
, and is listed as
least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
. Its habitat is not threatened and it occurs in a number of protected areas.


Description

Hildebrandt's starling is in length and weighs . The adult has bright
iridescent Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstruc ...
plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...
on its upper body and upper surfaces. As in its relatives, this iridescence is derived from the
interference Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to: Communications * Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message * Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extra ...
of reflected light from regimented microscopic feather structures and not from pigments. The head is blue as are most of the upperparts, the wings are bronze-green with blue
primaries Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...
, the throat and upper breast are glossy purple, and the tail is glossy blue-green. The middle breast and upper belly are orange-buff and the lower belly is rufous. The iris is orange-red, and the bill and legs are black. Male and female adults are identical in external appearance. Can be confused with the superb starling. The juveniles are quite different, with charcoal grey upperparts and chestnut brown lowerparts. The species makes a number of calls and songs. Its song is a slow low "ch-rak ch-rak chee-chee-wee chee-wee rak rak rak". It also has an alarm call, "chu-ee" and has a contact call, "chule".


Behaviour

The diet of Hildebrandt's starling is a combination of insects and fruit, with insects apparently being the more important constituent. It has been observed feeding on beetles and grasshoppers, as well as hawking for flying termites. Seeds from fruit have also been found in the stomachs of some birds, including those from '' Carissa edulis'', ''
Euclea ''Euclea'', from the Greek '' eukleia'' meaning "glory and fame", denotes a group of flowering plants in the Ebenaceae or ebony family. They were described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1774. The genus includes evergreen trees and shrubs, native to ...
'', ''
Rhus Sumac or sumach ( , )—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is '' Rhus coriaria' ...
'' and ''
Apodytes dimidiata ''Apodytes dimidiata'' (white pear or umDakane) is a bushy tree with white flowers bearing a fragrance reminiscent of fresh coconut, and small black and red fruits. It is usually about 5 m tall (but reaches a height of 20 m when growing ...
''. It usually feeds on the ground, in pairs and small flocks, and will readily follow large mammals and catch prey flushed by their movement. It also joins mixed flocks of other starlings. Hildebrandt's starling is a seasonal nester, with birds nesting in March to May and October to December, although in some parts of Kenya the season is May to July. It usually breeds in pairs but cooperative breeding has been recorded on occasion. It is a cavity nester, usually building its nest of plant fibres in an abandoned
woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), 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 ...
nest in a tree. Where this is not possible it has been recorded nesting in a hole in a fence post, lamppost or telegraph pole. It competes with the
greater blue-eared starling The greater blue-eared starling or greater blue-eared glossy-starling (''Lamprotornis chalybaeus'') is a bird that breeds from Senegal east to Ethiopia and south through eastern Africa to northeastern South Africa and Angola. It is a very common ...
for nesting sites. Little is known about its nesting behaviour, although it is known that the
clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...
is three to four eggs. Both the parents are involved in feeding the young. The nests of this species are parasitised by the
great spotted cuckoo The great spotted cuckoo (''Clamator glandarius'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. It is widely spread throughout Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. I ...
.


References


External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q661642 Birds described in 1878 Birds of East Africa Lamprotornis Taxonomy articles created by Polbot