Alternative names: Neumann's Red-winged Starling; Crag Chestnut-winged Starling
- Onychognathus neumanni
Identification
25 - 30cm. A dark large starling. The only rufous-winged starling in its range.
- Glossy black plumage
- Chestnut primaries
- Long, graduated tail
- Dark red eye
- Black, heavy and deep bill
- Black legs
Females have an ash-grey head. Juveniles are duller than males and have brown eyes.
Distribution
West Africa: Patchily from Senegal to Cameroon, Central African Republic and western Sudan.
Locally not uncommon.
Taxonomy
Onychognathus neumanni has two subspecies:1
- O. n. neumanni in east Mali, south Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, east Chad, adjacent west Sudan and western Central African Republic
- O. n. modicus in south Mauritania, east Senegal, Guinea, southwest Mali, northern Ivory Coast and southwest Burkina Faso
Sometimes treated conspecific with Red-winged Starling.
Habitat
Rocky cliffs, outcrops and gorges. Up to 2500m in Sudan.
Behaviour
Feeds mainly on fruit, takes alos insects and snails.
Forages in pairs or small flocks.
It builds a nest of grass on a rock ledge in a cave.
Presumably a resident species, perhaps nomadic.
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
- 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. (2025) Neumann's Starling. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Neumann%27s_Starling
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
