Spotless Starling
Sturnus unicolor
Dark purple starling without any spots in summer. Same size and shape as European Starling. In winter can show some restricted pale spotting below but still very uniform. Found in short grassy areas, farms, parks, and gardens. The song is similar to European Starling, including lots of mimicry. Nests in cavities.
识别特征
The adult spotless starling is very similar to the common starling, but marginally larger (21–23 cm length; 70–100 g weight), and has darker, oily-looking black plumage, slightly purple- or green-glossed in bright light, which is entirely spotless in spring and summer, and only with very small pale spots in winter plumage, formed by the pale tips of the feathers. It also differs in having conspicuously longer throat feathers (twice the length of those on common starlings), forming a shaggy "beard" which is particularly obvious when the bird is singing. Its legs are bright pink. In summer, the bill is yellow with a bluish base in males and a pinkish base in females; in winter, it is duller, often blackish. Young birds are dull brown, darker than young common starlings, and have a black bill and brown legs. Confusion with the common starling is particularly easy during the winter, when common starlings are abundant throughout the spotless starling's range, but also in summer where their breeding ranges overlap in northeastern Spain and the far southwest of France. It can also be confused with the common blackbird (Turdus merula), which differs most obviously in its longer tail and lack of plumage gloss.<p>Like the common starling, it walks rather than hops, and has a strong direct flight, looking triangular-winged and short-tailed. It is a noisy bird and a good mimic; its calls are similar to the common starling's, but louder.
分类信息
Subsequent to the recent split of the genus Sturnus, this species and the common starling are the only species retained in the genus. Hybrids with the common starling are found occasionally where the breeding ranges overlap in southwestern France and northeastern Spain.
- 学名
- Sturnus unicolor
- 命名信息
- Temminck, 1820
- 目
- Passeriformes
- 科
- Sturnidae
- 属
- Sturnus
分布与栖息地
The spotless starling uses a wide range of habitats and can be found in any reasonably open environment, from farmland and olive groves to human habitation. The highest population densities are in open grazed holm oak woods, and in urban habitats such as Gibraltar, where it is common. The population has grown in recent decades with a northward expansion in range, spreading to the whole of Spain (previously absent from the northeast) between 1950 and 1980, and colonising locally along the southern coast of mainland France since 1983. Like its more common relative, it is an omnivore, taking a wide variety of invertebrates, berries, and human-provided scraps. It is gregarious, forming sizeable flocks, often mixed with common starlings, of up to 100,000 in winter.<p>Like most starlings, it is a cavity-nesting species, breeding in tree holes, buildings and in cliff crevices. It typically lays three to five eggs.
- 迁徙
- Resident species
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- rising
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Bearded Reedling
Panurus biarmicus
Striking long-tailed bird of extensive reed beds. No other species looks very similar, particularly given habitat and behavior: note bright cinnamon-brown plumage, long tail, and yellowish bill; male has blue-gray head and broad black mustaches. Not easy to see well but sometimes feed on reedbed edges, often very low or on adjacent muddy ground. Flight typically low over reeds with whirring wingbeats. Often in small groups. Flocks often give a quiet “tue, tue”, as well as hard “tik” and buzzy “chew” calls.
Carmiol's Tanager
Chlorothraupis carmioli
Large and chunky with stout dark bill. Nondescript plumage: entirely olive-green with slightly brighter yellowish throat and upper breast. Sexes alike. Compare with female Red-throated Ant-Tanager, which is somewhat more slender and longer-tailed, has a more contrasting pale throat, and paler legs. Found in lowlands and foothills, where small flocks move through lower and middle levels of humid forests. Often in mixed feeding flocks with other species. Occurs from eastern Honduras to extreme northwestern Colombia. Listen for its loud, fast, long-winded song of whistles and chips, along with grating squeaky scold calls.
Erect-crested Penguin
Eudyptes sclateri
Medium-sized crested penguin, endemic to New Zealand. Note the distinct broad yellow eyebrow rising over the eye to form a stiff brush-like crest. Also look for pale blue skin at the base of the bill. A subantarctic breeder, with main colonies on Bounty and Antipodes Islands. Disperses widely at the end of breeding season. A small number molt on the east coast of the North and South Islands in the fall. Forms small groups at sea. Voice a low-pitched booming bray. Distinguished from Snares and Fiordland Penguins by pale white-blue skin at bill base and less “V-shaped” crest when seen head-on.
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