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Photo by Jankees

Lamprotornis chalybaeus

[edit] Identification

Length 23-24 cm. A common and widespread glossy starling with blue belly and flanks and a yellow eye.

[edit] Similar species

Lesser Blue-eared Glossy-Starling is smaller with a narrower ear patch and magenta belly and flanks. Bronze-tailed Glossy-Starling has a shorter tail and a darker orange-yellow eye. Cape Glossy-Starling has green ear patches, belly and flanks.

[edit] Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa.

[edit] Taxonomy

Lamprotornis chalybaeus has four subspecies:¹

• L. c. chalybaeus

• Senegal to eastern Sudan

• L. c. cyaniventris

• Eritrea and Ethiopia to western Kenya and eastern Uganda

• L. c. scyobius

• South-western Uganda to south-eastern Kenya, Tanzania, south-eastern Zaire and Mozambique

• L. c. nordmanni

• Southern Angola to Zimbabwe, southern Zambia, Botswana and north-eastern South Africa

[edit] Habitat

Savanna and woodland.

[edit] Behaviour

Forages, often in flocks, on the ground and in trees. Eats fruit, nectar and insects.

[edit] Vocalisation

The song is rambling with a whining tone. The call is nasal squee-aar.

[edit] Breeding

Monogamous. The nest is built in a cavity (often an old woodpecker or barbet nest) in a tree. Two to five eggs are incubated for 13-14 days by the female. Parasitised by the Great Spotted Cuckoo and Greater Honeyguide.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
3. Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154

• List of references

[edit] External Links