NSSB

Chestnut-tailed starling

by · June 19, 2017

 কাঠ শালিক / দেশি পাওয়াই

Sturnia malabarica, (Gmelin, 1789)

রাজ্য/ Kingdom: Animalia
বর্গ / Order: Passeriformes
পরিবার / Family:  Sturnidae
গন / Genus: Sturnia
প্রজাতি/ Species: S. malabarica

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Description

A commonly seen member of starling family in our country. It’s the smallest member of the starlings. It has brownish silvery grey upper parts and rusty brown lower part. It has blackish wing quills. Its beak is yellow/orange at the opening and pale blue at the base.

Length: 20 cm.

Weight: 32-44 gm.

Voice: Songs a series of short hard notes and low squeaky churrs.

Habitat: They are largely arboreal. They live in open, thinly forested area, both near or far from human.

Flight: Swift and direct.

Food habit: Insects, fruits like ber, lantana, berries, banyan & pepool figs, nectar of different flowers.

Reproduction: Breeding season is March to July. Nest is made up of  a collection of twigs, rootlets, grass in an old barbet or woodpecker hole in tree trunks. Female lay 3-5 pale blue unmarked eggs. Female alone incubate the eggs.

Distribution: Fairly common through greater part of range in India and SE Asia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

Conservation status:  Least concern (LC).

Reference:

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