Animalia Life
Speculipastor bicolor
SUBFAMILY
Sturninae
TAXONOMY
Speculipastor bicolor Reichenow, 1879, Kenya.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Pied starling; French: Spreу pie; German: Spiegelstar;
Spanish: Estornino Urraca.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
7.5 in (19 cm); weight 2.2–2.4 oz (61–69 g). Blackish head,
throat, and upperparts with blue sheen; underparts white. Juvenile
dark brown above with paler crown and cheeks, a dark
breast band, and buff-white belly.
DISTRIBUTION
Northeast Africa, including Somalia, southern Ethiopia, northeastern
Uganda, Kenya.
HABITAT
Dry savanna and acacia.
BEHAVIOR
Shrill whistling flight call; gather at food trees; apparently migrant,
though may be nomadic; some remain year round.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Diet is primarily fruit, especially figs, and insects.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Nests of grass and leaves are placed in cavities in termite
mounds or in banks; clutch of three to five blue-green eggs
incubated by female for about 18 days; both parents feed
nestlings; young fledge at about 21 days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.