Narrow-tailed Starling

About the Narrow-tailed Starling

The narrow-tailed starling (Poeoptera lugubris) is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is sparsely present across the African tropical rainforest. The male is dark blue and the female is dark gray with chestnut-colored patches on the wings, visible in flight. Both sexes have long, narrow tails. Not a very noisy bird, this starling's vocalizations include shrill chirps, cries, and whistles.

Its habitat is the canopy of lowland forest, making use of secondary forest and forest clearings. It eats mostly fruit, and sometimes insects or seeds. These starlings form flocks of 10-30 or more birds, and sometimes will mix with other fruit-eating birds. This bird is a colony-nester, making its nest high up in dead trees in holes originally excavated by colonial cavity-nesting barbets, sometimes with both birds nesting in close proximity. Eggs are pale blue-gray with brown spots.

Image at ADW Wikipedia →