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Brahminy Starling | Sturnia pagodarum
Pagodespreeuw | Estornino pagoda
The Brahminy Starling is a small, slim, black-crested starling of dry, open country in India and Nepal. In this region it is a rare visitor to the east coast of Arabia, able to cross the Arabian Sea but also present in the cage-bird trade.
Voice
A varied, chattering song with whistles, creaks and mimicry; groups give a soft, twittering kweek and harsh notes.
Recording: Dipendra Maharshi — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
19–21 cm. Grey above, warm salmon-orange below, with a glossy black crown and a long, backward-drooping black crest, longest in the male; cheeks, neck and breast with fine pale shaft streaks. The bill is yellow with a bluish base, the eye pale with bluish skin around it. The tail is dark with white corners, conspicuous in flight. Juveniles are duller and browner, with a brownish cap and no crest.
Confusion species
Juvenile Rosy Starlings (Pastor roseus) are paler sandy brown, without a black cap and without white tail corners. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) is larger and brown with a white wing patch and a yellow eye patch. Other Asian starlings from the cage-bird trade must be ruled out.
Habitat
In its native range dry, open country with trees, scrub, fields and villages. In Arabia in gardens, parks, irrigated land and coastal oases, often among other starlings or mynas. Eats insects, nectar and fruit.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the habitats of North Africa and the Middle East.
Range and movements
In this region a vagrant. In Oman about eight records up to 2008, mainly along the Batinah coast and around Muscat, with a few more since; several records in the UAE, some of which may involve escaped birds. Single reports from other Gulf states are of uncertain origin. Beyond the region from eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan through India and Nepal to Sri Lanka; some move south in winter.
How and when to look
In winter and spring in the parks, gardens and coastal oases of northern Oman and the UAE, often among Rosy Starlings or mynas; look for the black cap and the white tail corners in flight.
Conservation status
Not globally threatened and common in India. In this region a rare vagrant; as the species occurs in the cage-bird trade, escape is considered for every record.
Scientific name
Sturnia pagodarum | (Gmelin, 1789)
Gmelin described the species in 1789 as Turdus pagodarum; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Sturnia was introduced in 1837 by Lesson. Sturnia is a diminutive of Latin sturnus 'starling'. pagodarum is Latin for 'of the pagodas', for the temples in India it often frequents. The specimen the first description was based on came from Malabar and Coromandel coasts, India.