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Slender-billed Starling Onychognathus tenuirostris Scientific name definitions

Adrian J. F. Craig and C. J. Feare
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2009

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

25–30 cm; 127–142 g. Dark starling with rufous in wing, long sharply graduated tail. Male has crown, nape and chin black with greenish gloss, upperparts and entire underparts purple-black; upperwing black with greenish gloss, primaries reddish-brown with broad band of black at tip (in flight, wing patch appears centrally positioned); tail black with greenish gloss; iris hazel-brown; bill black, often pale tip; legs black. Female differs from male in having crown, nape, side of head, chin and throat duller greenish-black with grey feather tips, upperparts dull black, and underparts dull black with broad grey crescents at feather tips, producing scalloped effect. Juvenile is dull sooty black, with bluish wash on wings and tail.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Proposed race theresae (described from N Aberdares, in Kenya) considered largely inseparable from birds in rest of species’ range. Treated as monotypic.

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Onychognathus tenuirostris tenuirostris Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Mountains of Eritrea and Ethiopia
SUBSPECIES

Onychognathus tenuirostris theresae Scientific name definitions

Distribution

E Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kenya, Tanzania and n Malawi

Distribution

SC Eritrea S to C & S Ethiopia; E DRCongo, SW Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi; Mt Elgon (Uganda–Kenya border) and W & C Kenya; NE, C & S Tanzania (Eastern Arc Mts); and NE Zambia and N Malawi (Nyika Plateau).

Habitat

Inhabits montane forest from 1500 m to 3000 m, ranging up into alpine moorland zone as high as 5000 m; also descends to cultivated areas below forest. Breeds mostly at 1300–2300 m.

Movement

Presumed mostly resident; extensive altitudinal movements and some local wandering.

Diet and Foraging

Diet primarily fruit; also nectar, and some invertebrates. Fruits taken include those of Trema, Alongium, Sapium ellipticum, Schefflera goetzenii, Podocarpus milanjianus, Urera hypselodendron, Olea africana, Prunus africanus, Ocotea michelsonii, Ilex mitis, Macaranga neomildbreadiana, Polyscias fulva, Allophylus abyssinicus and Maesa lanceolata. Takes nectar from Lobelia flowers, and may contribute to pollination. Small snail (Gastropoda) and pupae of blackflies (Simuliidae) found in stomach contents. Forages in trees, stretching to reach fruit clusters more than do other starling species. Hawks insects in flight; forages on wet boulders along streams. Often in flocks; large flocks of 50–100 individuals visit fruiting trees. In Ethiopia associates with O. blythii, elsewhere also with Pholia sharpii.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song, often in chorus, consists of whistles and harsher notes. Flight call a high-pitched "pleek"; sustained harsh whistling and chattering in flocks, reminiscent of parrots (Psittacidae).

Breeding

Season Dec–Jan in Ethiopia, Dec in Rwenzori region of SW Uganda, Jan–Mar and Aug–Dec in Kenya and Tanzania, and Sept–Dec in Zambia and adjoining Malawi; timing possibly related to water levels in mountain streams; sometimes double-brooded. Monogamous. Solitary or in small colonies. Nest built by both sexes, a mud base with moss, lined with grass, placed on ledge of rock face along mountain stream, often in cave under waterfall; same site used in successive years. Clutch 2–4 eggs, pale blue with fine red-brown spotting; incubation by female only, fed on nest by male, period 13 days; chicks fed by both sexes, brooded by female alone, nestling period c. 23 days. In one year 12 eggs produced only one fledgling; in another year 13 eggs produced six flying young.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Locally common to very common; uncommon to scarce in Eritrea (Senafe and Guna Guna region).
Distribution of the Slender-billed Starling - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Slender-billed Starling

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Craig, A. J. F. and C. J. Feare (2020). Slender-billed Starling (Onychognathus tenuirostris), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.slbsta1.01
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