Rosy Starling Pastor roseus Scientific name definitions

19–24 cm; 60–88 g. Medium-sized starling with nape feathers hackled and elongate, forming long erectile crest. Male has head and neck to throat and upper breast black, glossed purple, upperparts, lower breast and belly pale pastel pink, undertail-coverts blackish; wing blackish-brown , green iridescence on secondaries; tail blackish-brown with green iridescence; iris dark brown; bill pink distally with black base during breeding, dark brown or blackish in autumn, brownish-pink in winter; legs yellowish-horn. In fresh plumage after complete moult (in late summer), male has black feathers tipped buffy grey tips, pink feathers tipped brown, black undertail-coverts dull with brown tips, remiges and wing-coverts with buff margins (abrasion of feather tips produces characteristic black-and-pink plumage). Female is similar to male but somewhat duller, with shorter crest; retains buffy feather tips in spring, so that throat, nape and undertail-coverts appear brown. Juvenile is sandy grey-brown above, rump paler and with pinkish or buff tinge (contrasting with back in flight), ear-coverts pale, wings and tail brown with buff feather margins, buff below, chin and throat paler and with dark feather centres (producing spotted appearance), pale eyering; bill horn-coloured, base bright yellowish or orange, legs pinkish-yellow or straw-coloured; first-winter bird has dull black head, crown feathers brown-tipped and not elongated, back and underparts browner than adult, undertail-coverts dull black with buff tips.

S Ukraine E to lower Volga steppes, C & E Kazakhstan, W Altai and W Mongolia, S to E Turkey, N Iran, Afghanistan and NW China (W & N Xinjiang); occasionally SE Europe W to Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy, and possibly now breeding annually in Romania, Bulgaria and Balkans, also occasionally farther E in Russia (to upper R Yenisey). Winters mainly in India and Sri Lanka.

Breeds on open steppes where orthopterans (locusts and other grasshoppers) abundant; colonies usually near water, often in valleys. After breeding, moves to more wooded areas. In non-breeding season found in wide variety of habitats, including wooded areas and open country  . Roosts communally in thorn bushes, trees and reedbeds, often with other starling species, also with parakeets (Psittacula), crows (Corvus), Ploceus weavers and sparrows (Passer); also forms daytime roosts near feeding and drinking sites.

Migratory; also nomadic during post-breeding dispersal, which begins when most nestlings have fledged, usually in Jun–Aug. Non-breeding grounds in Indian Subcontinent , primarily in N peninsular India from Gujarat E to Bihar and S through the Deccan, also regularly in Sri Lanka; sometimes common in Kerala (SW India). Autumn migration from Jul to mid-Oct, adults leaving before juveniles; in W of breeding range migration almost due W-E, but farther E predominant direction SE, with passage through Pakistan into India on narrow front between Kangra Valley and Baluchistan. Among earliest winter migrants reaching India, remaining until Mar–Apr; on rutun migration reaches breeding areas from mid-Apr to early Jun. Also irregular non-breeding visitor in small numbers in Oman. Recorded as accidental visitor in Iceland, Faroes, Britain  , Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Fennoscandia, Germany, Netherlands , Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Malta, Albania, N Africa (Canary Is and Morocco E to Egypt), Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Seychelles, E Asia (SW Myanmar; Thailand; Malaysia; Shanghai, in China; Korea); recently recorded also in sub-Saharan Africa in Ethiopia and in South Africa (Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park). Individual ringed in Hungary recovered 10 months later in W Pakistan, 4800 km to SE.

Insectivorous during breeding season, when diet dominated by locusts and other grasshoppers; more fruit taken after breeding, and in winter diet includes insects, fruit, seeds and nectar. Importance of locusts in diet perhaps overemphasized, although individual birds can eat 120–220 locusts (particularly flightless hopper instars of Dociostaurus maroccanus and Calliptamus italicus) per day; also takes other insects, such as bugs (Hemiptera), ants (Formicidae), beetles (Coleoptera), and moths and caterpillars (Lepidoptera), including winter moth (Operophtera brumata), an important pest species; spiders (Araneae), woodlice (Isopoda) and snails (Gastropoda) also eaten. Fruits taken from figs (Ficus), Lonicera and Solanum, also from cultivated mulberries (Morus), vines (Vitis), cherries and plums (Prunus), apricots (Prunus armeniaca), pears (Pyrus), raspberries (Rubus), dates (Phoenix) and chillies (Capsicum); fruits of Pithecelobium dulce important for fat-storing prior to spring migration. Seeds of cereals such as wheat, sorghum and millet taken. Nectar taken from flowers  of Bombax, Butea, Careya and Erythrina  ; feeds intensively at Bombax ceiba trees in flower, displacing sunbirds (Nectariniidae) and squirrels (Sciuridae), but dominated by Acridotheres mynas. Most locusts taken on the ground , birds hurrying in one direction, those at the back of flock flying over those in front so that group moves in a "roller-feeding" manner. Sometimes accompanies cattle. Highly gregarious at all times; forages in flocks , sometimes large ones .

Song a long series of bubbling, warbling, whistled and grating phrases, apparently not including mimicry; song given from ground in courtship, during latter stages of which female emits loud "tsili-tsili-tsili". Feeding and roosting flocks maintain constant chatter; flight call and alarm call short and harsh, resemble those of Sturnus vulgaris.

Breeds May–Jul; short season closely tied to food availability  , and breeding may be abandoned prematurely if food supply fails. Monogamous. In large colonies often of hundreds and up to several thousands of nests, occasionally tens of thousands. Nest built rapidly, by both sexes, from grasses and twigs , lined with finer grasses and feathers (often starling feathers), cup may include aromatic plants such as wormwood (Artemisia), giant fennel (Ferula) and the poaceous grass Aeluropus; placed in hole, most frequently in interstice between stones on scree slope, sometimes in crack in rock or cliff, among stones on railway embankment or quarry, in hole or crevice in building, under eaves or in thatch, or occasionally hole of Collared Sand Martins (Riparia riparia) used or even hole in tree, particularly willow (Salix); in dense colonies adjoining nests may coalesce. Clutch 3–6 eggs, pale blue to azure blue; incubation by both sexes, both may develop brood patch but female much more frequently, period estimated at 15 days; chicks fed by both parents, nestling period c. 24 days; young fed by both adults for a short period after leaving nest. Intraspecific brood parasitism reported; frequency not known. No information on breeding success, but numerous avian and mammalian predators attracted to colonies.

Not globally threatened. Common to abundant; breeding colonies can contain tens of thousands of nests, and migrating birds have been estimated in millions. Location of breeding colonies in any one year determined largely by local abundance of Orthoptera, and colonies therefore established erratically outside main area, sometimes extending W as far as Czech Republic, Hungary and Italy and in most of SE Europe; possibly now an annual breeder in Bulgaria. Widely regarded as beneficial because it consumes large quantities of grasshoppers and locusts. Conversely, may also damage mulberries, grapes and cereal crops in post-breeding period, when fruit and other plant material more important in diet.