Singing Starling
Aplonis cantoroides
Large songbird of New Guinea and Solomon Islands, also on Boigu Island in the northern Torres Strait. Adult glossy black with strong metallic green/blue sheen and bright red eye. Tail has blunt square tip. Juvenile brown above, pale below, with heavy short brown streaks. Compare Spangled Drongo, which has heavy, flared, forked tail, and Metallic Starling, which has long, tapered, pointed tail.
Identification
Adult singing starlings have glossy black plumage and bright red irises. Immature birds are paler, with streaked underparts and brown irises. They are distinguished from metallic starlings by shorter, square tails and thicker bills.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Aplonis cantoroides
- Authority
- (Gray, GR, 1862)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Sturnidae
- Genus
- Aplonis
Range and habitat
Singing starlings are found in New Guinea and some adjacent islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, Admiralty Islands and Solomon Islands. They have been recorded from Boigu and Saibai Islands, Queensland, Australian territory in north-western Torres Strait. They inhabit forest edges, gardens and cultivated areas with trees, urban areas and coconut groves.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
They eat figs and other soft fruits, and sometimes insects.<p>They nest in tree-hollows, cliffs and buildings, often colonially, laying 2-3 pale blue eggs.<p>The call is a repeated, high-pitched, down-slurred whistle.
Conservation
As a species with a large range and no evidence of population decline, it is assessed as being of Least Concern.
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
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