Cape Glossy Starling

Description:

I dont really know why I deserved that look.... But this is a very suspicious example of a Glossy Starling. Medium sized bird with metallic blue colour. The adult bird has orange/yellow eyes with a black pupil, and the juveniles eyes are more grey with a black pupil. (Juveniles can easily be mistaken for being a Burchells starling)

Habitat:

Spotted at open savanna/grassland close to Malelane gate in Kruger National Park. Dry season.

Notes:

Occurs from Angola and Zambia to southern Africa, where it is locally common across much of the region, excluding central Mozambique, the Karoo, Namib Desert and the fynbos biome in the Western Cape. It can occupy a variety of different habitats, especially wooded savanna, forest edges, riverine bush, plantations, parks and gardens. The Cape glossy starling eats insects, fruit, nectar and scraps of human food, doing most of its foraging on the ground, running and hopping in search of food items. It often associates with antelope, removing ectoparasites from them as well as catching the insects they disturb. A fun fact about Starlings: Starlings can imitate a variety of avian species and have a repertoire of about 15-20 distinct imitations. They also imitate a few sounds other than those of wild birds. The calls of abundant species, calls that are simple in frequency structure and calls that show little amplitude modulation are preferentially imitated. There are local dialects of mimicked sounds. Starlings have also been known to imitate objects, such as phone boxes and cars. (wikipedia)