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Message: <blockquote data-quote="johnallcock" data-source="post: 1862090" data-attributes="member: 52142">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?</blockquote>