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White-billed Starling Onychognathus albirostris 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 cm; 130–145 g. Medium-sized, pale-billed dark starling with comparatively short tail; feathers in front of eye directed forwards along bill, covering nostrils. Male plumage is mostly glossy blue-black, with greenish gloss on wings and tail; primaries reddish-brown with narrow black tips; iris brown; bill white; legs black. Female differs from male in having crown, nape, side of head, throat and upper breast pale grey. Juvenile has dark head like male.

Systematics History

Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Highlands from S Eritrea S to C Ethiopia.

Habitat

Rocky gorges and cliffs, between 2000 m and 3000 m; locally also in towns.

Movement

Presumed resident.

Diet and Foraging

Diet fruit and insects. Fruit of Ficus and Juniperus eaten; insects include grasshoppers (Orthoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), butterfly (Lepidoptera), and winged ants (Formicidae) and other Hymenoptera. Feeds in trees; hawks insects in air. In pairs and small groups; larger flocks in non-breeding season. Communal roosts of more than 100 individuals outside breeding period.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song intermediate between chatter and musical whistling; calls at nest repeated "kwit-kwit"; less melodious than voice of O. morio. Alarm call a harsh "charr".

Breeding

Breeds Aug–Oct in Ethiopia; nest-building in Jun in Eritrea. Monogamous. Nest in hole or crevice in rock, or on man-made structure, including bridge or building, sometimes on door lintel of derelict building; one nest made from grass and cereal-leaf blades, lined with plant fibres and rootlets (no mud used in construction); some nest-sites used for three successive years. Clutch 4 eggs, turquoise blue with small brown to blackish spots, mainly at thick end; incubation by female alone, chicks fed by both parents, male may bring food to female on nest; combined incubation and nestling periods estimated at 35 days. At three active nests, eight young fledged from minimum of twelve eggs.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Locally common to very common; uncommon in S of range (Bale Mts).
Distribution of the White-billed Starling - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the White-billed Starling

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Craig, A. J. F. and C. J. Feare (2020). White-billed Starling (Onychognathus albirostris), 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.whbsta1.01
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