South African Glossy Starlings (1 Viewer)

[sbradfield]

Reviewing some photographs and would like opinions on these please. All were taken in Madikwe Reserve in August.

Bird 1. (First photo) Looks very uniform and apparently no ear patch (although it is a bad angle!). I'm leaning towards Cape Glossy

Bird 2 (Photos 2-6) Really struggling with this one. Photos 3, 5 and 6 show ear patch but it is less clear in others.

Bird 3 (Photo 7) Again lack of ear patch behind eye makes me think Cape

Thanks in advance

 

[MacNara]

From my personal experience and comments from human guides when in the area, the illustration and comments on Cape Glossy Starling in the Sasol guide are nonsense.

Essentially, there is only the possibility of Cape Glossy in your location.

Cape Glossy does have a wide, dark face mask, but whether you see this or not depends on the light - 'uniformly green ear patches' is nonsense.

The eye is orange or red depending on view.

All these look fine for Cape Glossy.

 

[THE_FERN]

Your best candidate for greater blue eared is bird 1. We can see distinct covert spots, a fairly distinct ear patch and evidence of the strong beak and angular head profile of this species.
(Perhaps the ring is a clue.) That said, these 2 can be difficult to tell apart with views like these: MacNara's comments are helpful and generally applicable

 

[sbradfield]

Thanks both!