Greater Blue-eared Starling
Lamprotornis chalybaeus
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
Superb Starling
Lamprotornis superbus
This species is 18 to 19 cm (7.1 to 7.5 in) in height. These small short-tailed starlings have a long narrow bill, robust bodies, strong feet and a distinctive plumage pattern. Their spectacular iridescent plumage is due to the arrangement of melanin granules within the feathers, resulting in structural blues and greens, rather than colors derived from pigments. The appearance of the superb starling is very similar to the Hildebrandt's starling, also found in East Africa. The superb starling is distinguished by having pale creamy-white eyes, as opposed to red eyes in the Hildebrandt's. Voice: The superb starling has a long and loud song consisting of trills and chatters. At midday it gives a softer song of repeated phrases. There are several harsh calls, the most complex, which is described as "a shrill, screeching skerrrreeee-cherrrroo-tcherreeeeeet." Additionally, superb starlings produce warning chirr and a reapeated whit-chor-chi-vii when they are excited.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Where you might meet both
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Play today's Daily BirdPhotos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Greater Blue-eared Starling and Superb Starling.