Greater Blue-eared Starling vs Pied Starling

Greater Blue-eared Starling

Lamprotornis chalybaeus

Medium86 gShrubland

The greater blue-eared starling is a 22 cm long, short tailed bird. This starling is glossy blue-green with a purple-blue belly and blue ear patch. Its iris is bright yellow or orange. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile is duller and has blackish brown underparts. The populations from southern Kenya southwards are smaller than northern birds and are sometimes considered to be a separate subspecies, L. c. sycobius. The lesser blue-eared starling is similar to this species, but the blue of the belly does not extend forward of the legs.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: flowcomm · CC BY 2.0

Pied Starling

Lamprotornis bicolor

Medium104 gGrassland

The adult of this 27–28 cm (11 in) long starling has mainly dully glossed black plumage except for a white lower belly and undertail. It has a white iris and yellow lower mandible. The sexes are alike, but the juvenile has unglossed plumage, a brown iris and a dull yellow lower mandible. There are no subspecies. This species has a number of calls, but the most familiar is a skeer kerrra kerrra. There is also a soft warbling song.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Diego Rubolini · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Greater Blue-eared Starling and Pied Starling.