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Metallic Starling - BirdForum Opus

(Redirected from Aplonis circumscripta)
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Photo by julien
Daintree, Queensland, Australia, September 2006

Alternative names: Shining Starling; Colonial Starling

Aplonis metallica

Includes: Violet-hooded Starling / Purple-chinned Starling

Identification

25cm. A medium-sized Starling with a long, graduated tail.

  • eye red, prominent
  • nape glossy satin-green with long, lanceolate feathers
  • overall plumage black with variable gloss which is purple on crown and mantle, emerald-green on rump and underparts
  • wings brownish-black with some bluish iridescence
  • bill and legs black

Sexes similar. Juveniles have a dark brown eye (later changing to red), are chocolate-brown above, have a buffy chin and throat with brown shaft streaks and a brown breast and belly with broad pale buff feather margins.

Juvenile
Photo by Mat & Cathy
Centenary Lakes, Cairns, Queensland, Australia, November 2006

circumscripta is glossed reddish-purple on head, mantle and breast.

Distribution

Found in eastern Indonesia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and northwest Australia.
Common to abundant in most of its range.

Taxonomy

Subspecies circumscripta is sometimes regarded as full species, "Violet-hooded Starling" or "Purple-chinned Starling", A. circumscripta given its different plumage [4],[5].

This taxon was thought to form a superspecies with Long-tailed Starling.

Subspecies

Clements recognises the following subspecies [1]:

  • A. m. metallica: the Moluccas (including Sula Islands); New Guinea and most of its satellite islands; and northeast Queensland, Australia
  • A. m. inornata: Numfor and Biak, off northwest New Guinea
  • A. m. purpureiceps: Admiralty Islands, northwest Bismarck Archipelago
  • A. m. nitida: Bismarck Archipelago (except northwest) and Solomon Islands
  • A. m. circumscripta: "Purple-chinned Starling". Damar and Tanimbar Islands, eastern Lesser Sundas (Indonesia) (Damar population may be extinct.)

Habitat

Found in rainforest, mangroves, coastal woodland, forest edge and gardens. Usually below 1000m but recorded up to 3000m in New Guinea.

Behaviour

Usually seen in flocks (up to several hundred birds), associates with Fruit-Doves, Moluccan Starling (on Seram) and Yellow-eyed Starling (in New Guinea).

Diet

Feeds mainly on fruit, takes also nectar and some insects.

Breeding

Breeding season differs through range. Breeds in colonies of 4 to 400 nest. A monogamous species, possibly also a co-operative breeder. The nest is a dome with a side entrance made of twigs, vine tendrils and bark strips. It's suspended from the end of twigs 10 - 30m above the ground. Lays 1 - 4 eggs.

Movements

Most populations are resident, some nomadic. Birds from Australia spend the non-breeding season in New Guinea.

Vocalisation

A short and fluty song, resembling the song of Island Canary. The song includes mimicry of other species like Hooded Pitta or Common Koel.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
  3. BirdLife International. 2009. The BirdLife checklist of the birds of the world, with conservation status and taxonomic sources. Version 2. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/downloads/BirdLife_Checklist_Version_2.zip [.xls zipped 1 MB].
  4. BirdLife International. 2009. The BirdLife checklist of the birds of the world, with conservation status and taxonomic sources. Version 2. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/downloads/BirdLife_Checklist_Version_2.zip [.xls zipped 1 MB].
  5. Eaton, JA, B van Balen, NW Brickle, FE Rheindt 2021. Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago (Greater Sundas and Wallacea), Second Edition. Lynx Editions. ISBN978-84-16728-44-2

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

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