Alternative names: Long-tailed Purple Starling; Angola Glossy Starling (benguelensis)
- Lamprotornis mevesii
Identification
Length 30-36 cm, mass 65-95 g. A glossy starling with a dark eye and long, graduated tail.
- Blackish lores and ear-coverts
- Blue-green rest of head, nape and mantle (with some purple overtones)
- Purple back, bronze rump
- Blue-green wing with purple sheen on primaries
- Blue-violet tail with dark barring
- Blue-green breast
- Bronze centre of belly, rest of underparts purple
- Dark brown eye
- Black bill and legs
- benguelensis with bronzy green upperparts, a coppery tail and dark bronzy green underparts.
Sexes similar, females duller and smaller than males. Juveniles have matt black underparts.
Similar species
Has a less contrasting mask than Burchell's Glossy-Starling and long, narrow and rounded central tail-feathers.
Distribution
South-central Africa: Southern Angola, northern Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, western Mozambique and far-northern South Africa.
Locally common in its range.
Taxonomy
Lamprotornis mevesii has three subspecies:1
- L. m. mevesii
- Angola and northern Namibia to Botswana, southern Malawi and far-northern South Africa
- L. m. violacior
- Northern Namibia and south-western Angola
- L. m. benguelensis
- Mopane woodlands of the southern end of the escarpment of western Angola
Forms a superspecie with Rueppell's Glossy-Starling and Long-tailed Glossy-Starling.
Habitat
Mopane woodland and riverine forest. benguelensis more in miombo woodland. Occurs up to 1300m.
Behaviour
Forages on the ground, often in groups of up to ten individuals; eats insects, flowers and fruit.
Breeding
Monogamous. The nest is built in a hole in a tree, usually 1-4 m above the ground. Three to five eggs are laid November to April and incubated for 18 days by the female. Parasitised by Great Spotted Cuckoo.
References
- Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
- 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
- Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
- 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
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Meves's Starling. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 31 October 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Meves%27s_Starling
