Red-winged Starling: how to recognise it
A bird of Africa. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Jonghyun Park · CC BY · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Onychognathus morio
- Family
- Starlings
- Size
- About 28 cm
- Habitat
- Rocky cliffs, gardens and woodland
- Found in
- Africa
The key marks
Glossy blue-black starling with a long tail and bright rusty-orange flight feathers, visible as a patch on the wing and in flight. European Starling has a shorter tail, pale speckles and no rusty wing patch.
Voice
Clear, ringing whistles and chattering.
Good to know
It lives around cliffs and buildings and eats fruit and insects, and it visits gardens.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the European Starling. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in rocky cliffs, gardens and woodland. It is especially common in South Africa. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.