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Onychognathus morio

Male Red-winged Starling
Photo by Sarel
Location: Pilanesberg, North-West Province, South Africa

[edit] Identification

27-30 cm. Iridescent black plumage, chestnut flight feathers. Female - ash-grey head and upper breast. The juvenile resembles the male, but is less glossy than the adults, and has brown rather than dark red eyes.

[edit] Distribution

Eastern Africa from Ethiopia to the Cape in South Africa.

[edit] Taxonomy

Onychognathus morio has two subspecies:¹

• O. m. morio
• O. m. rueppellii

Female Red-winged Starling
Photo by Alan Manson
Location: Giants Castle, KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg, South Africa

[edit] Habitat

Rocky cliffs, outcrops and gorges, as well as urban areas.

[edit] Behaviour

It builds a nest of grass and twigs, with a mud base, on a natural or structural ledge. 2–4, blue eggs, spotted with red-brown are laid and incubated by the female for 13–14 days; 22–28 days later they hatch. This starling is commonly double-brooded. It may be parasitised by the Great Spotted Cuckoo.

The diet includes seeds, berries, nectar and invertebrates. It will also scavenge on carrion and human food discards.

[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.

• List of references

[edit] External Links