Alternative name: Grosbeak Starling
- Scissirostrum dubium
Identification
20cm. A smallish starling with a massive bill.
- Dark grey plumage, darker on wing and tail
- Massive orange-yellow bill
- Bright red waxy tips on stiff and elongated feathers on rump and uppertail-coverts
- Very dark brown eye
- Orange-yellow legs
Sexes similar. Juveniles are mouse-brown, have a blackish eye and a slender and paler bill than adults.
Distribution
Found on Sulawesi and some nearby islands (Bangka, Lembeh, Togian Islands, Buton and Banggai Islands) in Indonesia.
Widespread and common.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Habitat
Forest edge, lightly wooded areas and plantations. Occurs from sea-level up to 1000m, occasionally higher.
Behaviour
Feeds on fruit, seeds and insects.
A highly gregarious species, usually seen in flocks of up to 150 birds. Forages often together with Short-tailed Starling.
Breeding recorded in May. A monogamous species. Breeds in colonies with up to hundreds of nest. Bores a nest-hole in a dead wood, trees sometimes collapses as to many holes are made in one tree. Lays 2 eggs, in wild usually only one young produced per nest.
A resident species with some local movements.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- 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) Finch-billed Myna. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Finch-billed_Myna
