Narrow-tailed Starling - BirdForum Opus

Identification

A small, dark starling with a very long, narrow graduated tail. 18cm.

The female has grey plumage, a black tail and chestnut brown remiges. Juveniles are similar to females but are duller and have a dark eye.

Patchily distributed in western and central Africa. Found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and southwestern Uganda.
Locally common in Angola, uncommon or scarce in rest of range.

This is a monotypic species.
The described subspecies webbi is usually considered invalid.

Lowland forests. Also in coffee plantations.
Occurs below 1000m in Cameroon, up to 1700m in Uganda.

Feeds mainly on fruit but takes also insects.
Forages in the canopy in flocks of up to 40 birds, sometimes more. Joins mixed species flocks eg with Grey-throated Barbet or White-headed Woodhoopoe.
Breeding season differs through range. Nests in old barbet holes (mainly Naked-faced Barbet but also Grey-throated Barbet and even Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill). One nest contained 3 eggs.
A resident species with some local movements.c

Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
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

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Narrow-tailed Starling. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Narrow-tailed_Starling