A large glossy-black starling that shows whitish wing patches in flight. Pairs and small groups are resident in semi-desert and desert, where they prefer rocky areas and cliffs, but they also occur in towns and scrubland foraging for fruit and invertebrates. The species breeds semi-colonially on cliffs between October and April. A ringing melodious “preeeeooo” flight call and varied warbling often draws attention to it. The Pale-winged Starling sometimes flocks together with the similar Red-winged Starling, which differs by having brick-red (not whitish) wing patches in flight, a graduated (not square) tail, and dark red (not orange) eyes.