| Magpie Starling | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Sturnidae |
| Genus: | Speculipastor Reichenow, 1879 |
| Species: | S. bicolor |
| Binomial name | |
| Speculipastor bicolor Reichenow, 1879 |
|
The Magpie Starling, Speculipastor bicolor is a member of the starling family from eastern Africa.
Contents |
The Magpie Starling is about 16–19 cm (6.5-7.5 in) in length. The white patches at base of primaries are obvious in flight. The male is a shiny blue-black on upperparts, head and upper breast, with mostly white below and bloodred eyes. The female is a dull blackish above with dark grey crown, and a dark grey throat is separated from white belly by a glossy black breast band. Her eyes are red or orange-red. The Juvenile is brown with a white belly; eyes brown, becoming orange-red in as the bird matures. Exceptional young birds are entirely white below, including chin and throat.
The call is a prolonged soft babbling quereeeh quaaa kereek quak-quak, suaaaa, cherak-chik-chak...mixed higher harsh notes.
It is a gregarious nomadic pied starling of dry brush and thorn-scrub in northern and eastern Kenya.
