Superb Starling

The Superb Starling is a brightly plumaged songbird native to open savanna and woodland of eastern Africa, notable for its glossy, multicolored plumage and its tolerance of human settlements, where it is a familiar and confiding visitor to gardens, lodges, and outdoor eating areas.

Flight feathers: glossy metallic blue-green with a strong iridescent sheen visible in good light. Tail feathers: similarly glossy blue-green, relatively short and squared. Body feathers: the head, throat, and upper breast are glossy blue-green, sharply demarcated from a narrow white breast band, below which the belly and flanks are a warm chestnut-orange, and the eye is pale cream to white. This sharply divided color-block pattern, with a distinct white band separating the glossy upperparts from the chestnut underparts, is diagnostic and unlike any North American or European starling.

Sexes look alike. Adults show glossy blue-green upperparts and upper breast, a crisp white breast band, chestnut-orange lower breast and belly, and a pale eye. Juveniles are duller, with a browner head and less defined breast band, gradually acquiring the bold adult pattern through post-juvenile molt. There is no strong seasonal plumage variation.

Superb Starlings are found across savanna, open woodland, and scrubland of eastern Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The species is generally resident, though local movements may occur in response to food availability, and it readily adapts to human-modified landscapes.

This starling forages on the ground and in low vegetation for insects, other invertebrates, and fruit, and often gathers in noisy, social flocks. It is a cooperative breeder, with helpers sometimes assisting a breeding pair at the nest, which is typically built in a tree cavity or dense shrub. Calls include a range of chattering, whistled, and grating notes, often given by groups foraging or perched together.