Magpie Starling
Photo © Adrien Jailloux
Photo © Adrien Jailloux — CC BY 4.0 — Source: iNaturalist #335126015The magpie starling (Speculipastor bicolor) is a member of the starling family from eastern Africa. == Description == The magpie starling is about 16–19 cm (6.5–7.5 in) in length. The white patches at base of primaries are obvious in flight. The male is a shiny blue-black on upperparts, head and upper breast, with mostly white below and bloodred eyes. The female is a dull blackish above with dark grey crown, and a dark grey throat is separated from white belly by a glossy black breast band. Her eyes are red or orange-red. The Juvenile is brown with a white belly; eyes brown, becoming orange-red in as the bird matures. Exceptional young birds are entirely white below, including chin and throat. The call is a prolonged soft babbling quereeeh quaaa kereek quak-quak, suaaaa, cherak-chik-chak...mixed higher harsh notes. == Distribution and habitat == It is a gregarious nomadic pied starling of dry brush and thorn-scrub in northern and eastern Kenya. It is also found in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Tsavo East National Park
Athi ward, Kenya
+468 birds+50 mammals
Across the semi-arid lowlands of southeastern Kenya, where acacia woodland fragments into scrubland and the landscape rolls toward the Indian Ocean horizon, lies one of Africa's…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKTsavo West National Park
Mwatate, Kenya
+513 birds+49 mammals
Where volcanic ridges and weathered lava flows meet the semi-arid lowlands of south-central Kenya, Tsavo West National Park unfolds across a landscape sculpted by fire and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKYabelo Wildlife Sanctuary
Bedewera, Ethiopia
+359 birds+5 mammals
Where acacia woodlands meet volcanic plateaus in southern Ethiopia, a landscape of austere beauty unfolds across nearly 2,500 square kilometers. Yabelo Wildlife Sanctuary sprawls across semi-arid…
VIEW WILDLIFE SANCTUARYSamburu National Reserve
Samburu, Kenya
+430 birds+42 mammals
Across the arid plains of northern Kenya, where scattered acacia woodland gives way to rocky outcrops and dry riverbeds, Samburu National Park unfolds as one of…
VIEW NATURE RESERVESibiloi National Park
Kenya
+118 birds
Where the northern deserts of Kenya meet the volcanic Chalbi Plain, Sibiloi National Park sprawls across a landscape shaped by millennia of tectonic upheaval and semi-arid…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKArabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve
Kilifi, Kenya
+383 birds+29 mammals
Coastal forest rises from the Indian Ocean plains of Kilifi County, where sandy soils and seasonal rainfall have sculpted a woodland ecosystem unlike anywhere else on…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEWatamu Marine National Park
Dabaso ward, Kenya
+328 birds+12 mammals
Where mangrove channels meet coral gardens and sandy shallows blend into the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, Watamu Marine National Park unfolds across the Kilifi…
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