Singing starling

Singing starling
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Sturnidae
Genus: Aplonis
Species: A. cantoroides
Binomial name
Aplonis cantoroides
(Gray, 1862)

The singing starling (Aplonis cantoroides) is a medium-sized (20 cm in length) starling.

Description

Adult singing starlings have glossy black plumage and bright red irises. Immature birds are paler, with streaked underparts and brown irises. They are distinguished from metallic starlings by shorter, square tails and thicker bills.

Distribution and habitat

Singing starlings are found in New Guinea and some adjacent islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, Admiralty Islands and Solomon Islands. They have been recorded from Boigu and Saibai Islands, Queensland, Australian territory in north-western Torres Strait. They inhabit forest edges, gardens and cultivated areas with trees, urban areas and coconut groves.

Behaviour

Feeding

They eat figs and other soft fruits, and sometimes insects.

Breeding

They nest in tree-hollows, cliffs and buildings, often colonially, laying 2-3 pale blue eggs.

Call

The call is a repeated, high-pitched, down-slurred whistle.

Conservation

As a species with a large range and no evidence of population decline, it is assessed as being of Least Concern.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, June 03, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.