A beautiful bird covered head to tail in bold, vivid, metallic shades of green, yellow, and ultra-violet blue on the throat and wings.
Meet the Golden-breasted Starling
Photo Courtesy of TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋)/CC BY 2.0
The golden-breasted starling (Lamprotornis regius), is also known as sometimes known as the royal starling for good reason. This species’s head is a metallic shade of green, with the upper back being a similar color. The breast and belly are a golden yellow, with violet-blue on the wings, back, and neck.
Photo Courtesy of Laura Wolf/CC BY 2.0
The bill is dark, as are the legs, all finished off nicely, with long tail feathers.
The female looks very similar to the male, with juveniles looking a little duller.
Photo Courtesy of William Warby/CC BY 2.0
This bird occupies a large range from Somalia to Ethiopia, through to Kenya, and then Tanzania.
Photo Courtesy of Amaury Laporte/CC BY 2.0
The golden-breasted starling prefers dry, arid areas, usually scrublands and savannas, to a lesser extent also grasslands.
Photo Courtesy of TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋)/CC BY 2.0
They dine on insects, often catching them on the wing, or by digging up termite mounds.
Photo Courtesy of TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋)/CC BY 2.0
They will also eat some fruit and berries.
Photo Courtesy of Ted/CC BY-SA 2.0
These birds nest in tree holes where a cup-shaped nest is built of leaves, roots, and other plant materials they find. The female lays 3-5 eggs which she incubates for about 11-14 days. Both parents feed the hatchlings along with other birds from the wider community. Chicks are fully-fledged after about 3 weeks.
Photo Courtesy of Marie-Lan Nguyen/CC BY-SA 2.0
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as locally common. The population is thought to be stable in the absence of evidence of any decline or threats.
