Bird Guide

Black-collared Starling vs Indian Pied Myna

Black-collared Starling (Gracupica nigricollis)

Black-collared Starling

Gracupica nigricollis

Medium157 gGrassland

The black-collared starling is 26–30 cm (10–12 in) long. The head is white, with a yellow patch of bare skin around the eye, and a black collar around the neck. The mantle, back and wings are dark brown, appearing almost black. The underparts are white, often with a grey-brown tinge. The tail and most of the covert and flight feathers are tipped white, with the primary coverts completely white. The beak is black, and the legs are pale grey. The male and female are alike. The juvenile bird is browner and has a streaked neck and breast; it also has an eye-patch but not a collar.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Kaldari · CC0
Indian Pied Myna (Gracupica contra)

Indian Pied Myna

Gracupica contra

Medium84 gShrubland

This myna is strikingly marked in black and white and has a yellowish bill with a reddish bill base. The bare skin around the eye is reddish. The upper body, throat and breast are black while the cheek, lores, wing coverts and rump are contrastingly white. The sexes are similar in plumage but young birds have dark brown in place of black. The subspecies vary slightly in plumage, extent of streaking of the feathers and in measurements. The flight is slow and butterfly-like on round wings. Leucistic individuals have been recorded.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Vijay Vanaparthy, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Vijay Vanaparthy · cc-by

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Black-collared Starling and Indian Pied Myna.