Metallic starling
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Metallic starling
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| image = Metallic Starling 7115.jpg
| image_caption = At Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| genus = Aplonis
| species = metallica
| authority = (Temminck, 1824)
}}
The metallic starling (Aplonis metallica), also known as the shining starling, is a bird in the starling family native to the Moluccas, New Guinea, Queensland and the Solomon Islands.
Description
File:Metallic Starling female RWD6.jpg]]
The adult has brilliant red eyes, a long forked tail and green-glossed black plumage. Immatures are pale below with dark streaks.
Behaviour
They are very social and flocks of them build messy suspended globular nests in tall rain forest trees where they breed, possibly only during the wet season (north-west monsoon, October–March) (observed at Kokopo, East New Britain Province, 2016). They are not fearful of humans and their activity on the ground below, being well separated from them by altitude, but a loud noise will see them fly out in a tight formation, circle, then return to their nests. Their movement is very fast. During the early part of the 20th century, a flock (or flocks) were seen to migrate during AugustBanfield, E.J. "[http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=MU917212.pdf Alike in Difference.]" Emu. Vol. 17, No. 4, 212-214. 1917. Accessed 2009-05-25. to Dunk Island in far north Queensland, where they mate, preparing messy globular nests for their young which hang from tall trees."[http://www.wettropics.gov.au/pa/pa_bird_profile.html Plants and Animals in the Wet tropics.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519035832/http://www.wettropics.gov.au/pa/pa_bird_profile.html |date=2009-05-19 }}" [http://www.wettropics.gov.au Wet Tropics Management Authority]. Accessed 2009-05-25. There they remain until April, whereupon they make their return journey to New Guinea.{{Cite web|url=http://rainforest-australia.com/metallic_starling.htm|title=metallic starling|website=rainforest-australia.com|access-date=2017-01-08}} They are also seen in other areas of Queensland including Kuranda in the Atherton Tablelands, and Mossman Gorge.
Gallery
File:Aplonis metallica -Phoenix Zoo, Arizona, USA -two-8a.jpg|Phoenix Zoo, Arizona
File:Shining starling cairns09.JPG|Juveniles, Cairns Esplanade, North Queensland
File:Metallic Starling RWD2.jpg|Female with nest - Cairns, Queensland
File:AplonisMetallicaMetallica.jpg
File:Aplonis_metallica_feeding.jpg|Feeding on Ptychosperma elegans fruit in Cairns, Queensland
File:Metallic starlings nesting.jpg|Metallic Starlings around high nests in the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland.
File:Aplonis metallica -San Diego Zoo, California, USA -head-8a.jpg|Male at San Diego Zoo, California, USA
Metallic Starling RWD1.jpg| Cairns
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=6752&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q605720}}
Category:Birds of the Maluku Islands