Panjin, Liaoning, China (1 Viewer)

Owen Krout · Jul 3, 2016

Encountered some fledglings being fed by adults in some cottonwood trees by an irrigation canal. Hard to get a good look or photo due to shooting from deep shade towards bright light and unable to get a better angle. Very short tail and wings even on adults led me to think some sort of starling at the time, but unable to match pale unmarked face, lightly streaked chest and belly, black tail and black wing markings. Large eyes did look rather like a flycatcher, but body, wing and tail shape don't match that.

johnallcock · Jul 3, 2016

They look like Daurian Starlings to me. Structure, pale face with dark eye and bill, and wing pattern all seem to fit.
The streaked breast is presumably a feature of juveniles, although I've never seen one at that age before (I think this is a juvenile but is unfortunately looking away from the camera: http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=11&Bird_ID=2516&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1&Location=)

Owen Krout · Jul 3, 2016

Took quite a bit of digging, but final conclusion is that Daurian Starling is the best fit for appearance and expected range.

Brazil had it as Daurian Starling (Sturnus sturninus), while MacKinnon (which is what I was using) has it as Purple-backed Starling (Sturnus sturninus).

Trying to search online was even worse as OBC had it as Daurian Starling/Purple-backed Starling (Agropsar sturninus), while IBC was just Purple-backed Starling (Agropsar sturninus) and Avibase and eBird say Daurian Starling (Agropsar sturninus).

Gretchen · Jul 3, 2016

Hi, I found a few pictures and a little discussion on this page (here), but still no clear stripy breast pictures - seems like an easy feature, funny not to find pics of it.

Grahame Walbridge · Jul 3, 2016

Gretchen said:
Hi, I found a few pictures and a little discussion on this page (here), but still no clear stripy breast pictures - seems like an easy feature, funny not to find pics of it.

I think the problem is there are no available images of juveniles that early in the season. The Korean example is much later (Aug) and is clearly in active moult, but what age is it? First-winters are apparently very similar to adults but I am wondering if juveniles undergo a partial body moult (like many species) which might help explain the streaking on the breast?

Grahame

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