From Opus

Photo by martinuk
Lore Lindu National Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia, October 2009

Alternative name: Grosbeak Starling

Scissirostrum dubium

[edit] Identification

20cm. A smallish starling with a massive bill.

• Dark grey plumage, darker on wing and tail
• Massive orange-yellow bill
• Bright red waxy tips on stiff and elongated feathers on rump and uppertail-coverts
• Very dark brown eye
• Orange-yellow legs

Sexes similar. Juveniles are mouse-brown, have a blackish eye and a slender and paler bill than adults.

Photo by mehdhalaouate
Sulawesi, Indonesia, June 2004

[edit] Distribution

Found on Sulawesi and some nearby islands (Bangka, Lembeh, Togian Islands, Buton and Banggai Islands) in Indonesia.
Widespread and common.

[edit] Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species.

[edit] Habitat

Forest edge, lightly wooded areas and plantations. Occurs from sea-level up to 1000m, occasionally higher.

[edit] Behaviour

Feeds on fruit, seeds and insects.
A highly gregarious species, usually seen in flocks of up to 150 birds. Forages often together with Short-tailed Starling.
Breeding recorded in May. A monogamous species. Breeds in colonies with up to hundreds of nest. Bores a nest-hole in a dead wood, trees sometimes collapses as to many holes are made in one tree. Lays 2 eggs, in wild usually only one young produced per nest.
A resident species with some local movements.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
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

• List of references

[edit] External Links