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Sanya River Orange-coloured Starling (1 Viewer)

Andyasher

Member
Hello All,

On Thursday 24 June I spotted a starling in the mangroves on the Sanya River. The difference is that it was completely orange!
Attached is an artist's impression of the bird. I got my wife to alter a Chestnut Tailed Starling to closer represent the bird as I saw it:)
Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?
Are we looking at a subspecies here?
Maybe something new?
 

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  • SanYa River Bird.jpg
    SanYa River Bird.jpg
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Interesting "artist's impression"! I was thinking - why didn't he post the picture earlier, then I read more carefully ;)

I don't know if either of these questions will help or not, but maybe to elicit some more ideas....

What were the features that specifically made you think starling? (sometimes when I put a label on a bird, I lose a few of the distinctive points - do you remember any specifics?)

Were you in a place close enough to civilization where there could have been an escaped cage bird? (The picture made me think of south American birds possibly....)
 
Hi Jeff:)
Thanks for the advice. It could have been a Scarlet Minivet: do you know if there is a subspecies that is entirely orange, with no black upper parts whatsoever?
Have fun birding:)
Andrew
 
Hi Gretchen:)
I remember that it was very starling-like, from the shape of the body and the way that it moved through the bushes. And the eye was so typical of a starling/myna too
I'll look into South American birds just to be sure:)
Andrew
 
This may seem an initially strange suggestion, but could it have been a White-shouldered Starling? Although these are usually grey and white, a small number are brightly-coloured - usually orange, sometimes pink. These can be surprisingly bright

An orange bird from Taiwan:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=111197

And a pink bird in Hong Kong.
http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/viewthread.php?tid=8130&extra=page=2
http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/viewthread.php?tid=8342&extra=page=2

I don't know what causes this. It seems to be commoner in males, especially earlier in the spring.

I don't know how common this species is in Sanya, but thought it might be throwing in for consideration.
 
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I frequently see cage birds that are artificially coloured starlings, mynas, laughingthrushes etc, often bright red, yellow or orange. Perhaps your bird is such an escapee?
 
I have debated with other birders here in Hong Kong about the origins of our coloured White-shouldered Starlings. One suggestion is that they may be artificially coloured. What is curious is that it virtually never occurs in other species here (the only case I know of was an orange Red-billed Starling last winter) and I have never seen a coloured captive bird (of any species) - I was not aware that this was common practice.

As I mentioned, most coloured birds here seem to occur in early spring, shortly after they have arrived in Hong Kong (presumably from south-east Asia).

Dalat, do you ever see coloured White-shouldered Starlings? And do you know whether such birds would be released (e.g. Buddhist release) and re-enter the wild population?
 
Dalat, do you ever see coloured White-shouldered Starlings? And do you know whether such birds would be released (e.g. Buddhist release) and re-enter the wild population?

Hi, no, I do not have any specific observation about white shouldered starlings, I just wanted to mention the general phenomena of dyed birds as a possibility to explain that orange starling...
 
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