The Blyth’s Starling Scientific name: Sturnia blythii Location: Thattekkad, Kerala, India Date: October 2014 The Blyth’s Starling (Sturnia blythii) also known as Malabar Starling or Malabar White Headed Starling. Its distribution is endermic to southwest India (western ghats) and is fairly common. It was formerly considered conspecific with Chesnut-tailed Starling and placed in genus Sturnus. It is a small bird length 22cm. A small Starling with elongate and hackled feathers on crown, nape, side of face and throat. It is White head (contrasting to cinnamon-brown breast) or Silver-grey head with streaked appearance. It has grey upperparts and orange-brown rump. It has grey wings with black primary coverts and brown secondaries with grey tail, tipped chestnut. The breast and belly is rich cinnamon-brown with greyish white eyes. The bill is blue at base, green in middle and yellow at tip. Females have a greyer head and no contrast to the much paler underside. Juveniles are grey-brown. Its distribution is endermic to southwest India (western ghats) and is fairly common. Their habitat is in open woodland, cultivation with scattered trees, often in young forest plantations and also close to human settlements. They are usually seen in pairs or small flocks, also in bigger flocks. They fly in tight flocks and often rapidly change directions with great synchrony. They are Omnivorous and feeds on insects, fruit, seeds and nectar. The Breeding season is from February to May. It is monogamous species. The nest is placed in a tree hole (often an old hole of a Woodpecker or a Barbet. It lays 3 - 5 eggs. EXIF Device – Nikon D3x + Lens – Nikon AF-S 400mm f/2.8G ED VR AF + AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E II + Focal Length 550mm + Aperture – F/5 Shutter Speed – 1/500s + Exposure Mode – Manual + Metering – Matrix + ISO – 400
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:36:52 +0000
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