Spotless starling
| Spotless starling | |
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| Spotless starling in winter plumage | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Sturnidae |
| Genus: | Sturnus |
| Species: | S. unicolor |
| Binomial name | |
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Sturnus unicolor Temminck, 1820 |
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The spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor) is a passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is closely related to the common starling S. vulgaris, but has a much more restricted range, confined to the Iberian Peninsula, northwest Africa, southernmost France, and on the islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. It is largely non-migratory.
Subsequent to the recent split-up of the genus Sturnus, this species and the common starling are the only species retained in the genus.Hybrids with common starling are found occasionally where the breeding ranges overlap in northeast Spain.
The adult spotless starling is very similar to the common starling, but marginally larger (21–23 cm length; 70–100 g weight), and has darker, oily-looking black plumage, slightly purple- or green-glossed in bright light, which is entirely spotless in spring and summer, and only with very small pale spots in winter plumage, formed by the pale tips of the feathers. It also differs in having conspicuously longer throat feathers (twice the length of those on common starlings), forming a shaggy "beard" which is particularly obvious when the bird is singing. Its legs are bright pink. In summer, the bill is yellow with a bluish base in males and a pinkish base in females; in winter, it is duller, often blackish. Young birds are dull brown, darker than young common starlings, and have a black bill and brown legs. Confusion with the common starling is particularly easy during the winter when common starlings are abundant throughout the spotless starling's range, but also in summer where their breeding ranges overlap in northeastern Spain and the far south of France. It can also be confused with the common blackbird Turdus merula, which differs most obviously in its longer tail and lack of plumage gloss.
Like the common starling, it walks rather than hops, and has a strong direct flight, looking triangular-winged and short-tailed. It is a noisy bird, and a good mimic; its calls are very similar to the common starling's, but are louder.
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Wikipedia