Family Starlings (Sturnidae)
Least Concern
Tristram's Starling (Onychognathus tristramii)
Taxonomy
French: Rufipenne de Tristram German: Tristramstar Spanish: Estornino de Tristram
Taxonomy:
Amydrus Tristramii
P. L. Sclater
, 1858,Mar Saaba, Hebron Valley, Israel
.Distribution:
E & S Israel, Palestine and W Jordan S to extreme NE Egypt (Sinai) and W Arabian Peninsula (S to Yemen and E to SW Oman).
Descriptive notes
25 cm; 115–131 g. Fairly large, dark starling with medium-length tail, rounded at corners. Male plumage is uniformly glossy black, except for reddish-brown primaries... read more
Voice
Contact calls are musical whistles, e.g. "wuuwííwuu"; harsh alarm call... read more
Habitat
Desolate rocky areas in deserts (apparently physiologically adapted to such conditions); also urban... read more
Food and feeding
Diet mostly fruit and insects, occasionally small snails (Gastropoda), also household scraps. Fruits include those of Ficus nitida... read more
Breeding
Breeds Mar–Jun in Israel; second broods common. Monogamous. Sometimes in loose colonies. During courtship male fed female with... read more
Movements
Resident; also partly nomadic. Suggested that birds moved from low, hot summer breeding areas to... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Common to locally abundant. Estimated population in Israel c. 1000–2000 pairs in 1980s. Widespread in unpopulated regions, and now increasingly... read more
Monotypic.