Animalia Life

Acridotheres melanopterus
SUBFAMILY
Sturninae
TAXONOMY
Gracula melanoptera Daudin, 1800.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Black-winged starling, white-breasted starling; French: Йtourneau б ailes noires; German: Schwarzflьgelstar; Spanish: Estornino de Alas Negras.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
8.7–9.4 in (22–24 cm). Sexes alike; a mostly white myna with black wings and tail; bases of primaries are white, showing as a white stripe in the wing of a flying bird; black tail has whitetipped feathers; yellow bill, flesh around eye, and feet. Juvenile has a gray crown, nape, and mantle.
DISTRIBUTION
Java, Bali, and Lombok in western Indonesia.
HABITAT
Open country around human habitations and cultivated areas.
BEHAVIOR
Arboreal in some areas, but also spends a lot of time on the ground; roosts communally in trees.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Diet includes fruit and insects taken from trees, shrubs, and ground.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
A colonial cavity nester naturally nesting in holes among rocks or in trees.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Endangered. Capture for the cage bird trade is the most significant cause of this species’ decline; pesticide use also considered a problem. May compete with the critically Endangered Bali myna with which it now coexists.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Commonly sold in markets on Java.

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