| White-faced starling | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Sturnidae |
| Genus: | Sturnornis Legge, 1879 |
| Species: | S. albofrontatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Sturnornis albofrontatus (Layard, EL, 1854) | |
| Synonyms | |
Sturnus albofrontatus | |
The white-faced starling (Sturnornis albofrontatus) is a member of the starling family of birds. It is an endemic resident breeder in Sri Lanka.
The white-faced starling was formally described in 1854 by the English naturalist Edgar Leopold Layard under the binomial name Heterornis albofrontata. [2] This species was previously placed in the genus Sturnus . A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2008 found that the genus was polyphyletic. [3] In the reoganization to create monotypic genera, the white-faced starling was moved to the resurrected genus Sturnornis that had been introduced in 1879 by William Vincent Legge. [4] [5] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [5]
For many years this species was erroneously believed to have been first described in 1850 by French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte under the binomial name Pastor senex. Although Bonaparte had specified the location as Bengal, this was believed to have been an error. [6] An examination in 1997 of the specimen used by Bonaparte revealed that his brief description applied to Sturnus sericeus Gmelin, JF, 1789, the red-billed starling. The earliest description of the white-faced starling is therefore that by Layard in 1854. [7] [8]
The adults of these 22 cm-long birds have green-glossed dark grey upperparts and whitish underparts. The head is paler than the underparts. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller, with brown upperparts and greyer underparts.
This passerine is typically found in tall forest, usually high in the canopy. The white-faced starling builds its nest in a hole. The normal clutch is two eggs.
Like most starlings, the white-faced starling is fairly omnivorous, eating fruit, nectar and insects.
The brown boobook, also known as the brown hawk-owl, is an owl which is a resident breeder in south Asia from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal east to western Indonesia and south China.
The brahminy starling or brahminy myna is a member of the starling family of birds. It is usually seen in pairs or small flocks in open habitats on the plains of the Indian subcontinent.
The chestnut-tailed starling, also called grey-headed starling and grey-headed myna is a member of the starling family. It is a resident or partially migratory species found in wooded habitats in India and Southeast Asia. The species name is after the distribution of a former subspecies in the Malabar region. While the chestnut-tailed starling is a winter visitor to peninsular India, the closely related resident breeding population with a white head is now treated as a full species, the Malabar starling.
Legge's flowerpecker or the white-throated flowerpecker, is a small passerine bird. It is an endemic resident breeder in Sri Lanka. It is named after the Australian ornithologist William Vincent Legge.
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The silvered antbird is a passerine bird in the antbird family, the only member of the genus Sclateria. It is a resident breeder in tropical South America from central Brazil to Colombia and Trinidad and south to Peru and Bolivia.
Edgar Leopold LayardMBOU, was a British diplomat and a naturalist mainly interested in ornithology and to a lesser extent the molluscs. He worked for a significant part of his life in Ceylon and later in South Africa, Fiji and New Caledonia. He studied the zoology of these places and established natural history museums in Sri Lanka and South Africa. Several species of animals are named after him.
The yellow-green vireo is a small American passerine bird. It is migratory breeding from Mexico to Panama and wintering in the northern and eastern Andes and the western Amazon Basin.
The rock shag, also known as the Magellanic cormorant, is a marine cormorant found around the southernmost coasts of South America. Its breeding range is from around Valdivia, Chile, south to Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego, and north to Punta Tombo in Argentina. In winter it is seen further north, with individuals reaching as far as Santiago, Chile on the west coast and Uruguay on the east. The birds also breed around the coasts of the Falkland Islands.
Acridotheres is a genus of starlings, the "typical" mynas, which are tropical members of the family Sturnidae.
The white-headed munia is a species of estrildid finch found in Teladan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This species is also introduced to Portugal. It is found in wetlands habitat. The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
The white-cheeked starling or grey starling is a passerine bird of the starling family. It is native to eastern Asia where it is a common and well-known bird in much of its range.
The Asian house martin is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has mainly blue-black upperparts, other than its white rump, and has pale grey underparts. Its three subspecies breed in the Himalayas and in central and eastern Asia, and spend the winter lower in the mountains or in Southeast Asia. This species is locally abundant and is expanding northward in Siberia, so there are no concerns about its conservation status.
The red-billed starling is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in south and southeastern China.
The white-shouldered starling is a species of bird in the starling family Sturnidae. It breeds in southern China and northern Vietnam; it winters in Southeast Asia.
The white-throated manakin is a species of bird in the family Pipridae. It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.
Sturnia is a genus of Asian birds in the starling family Sturnidae. It is sometimes merged with Sturnus.
The Sincorá antwren is a small passerine bird of the genus Formicivora in the family Thamnophilidae, the typical antbirds. It is endemic to a small area of eastern Brazil. The bird was not described as a new species until 2007. The binomial name commemorates the German-born naturalist Rolf Grantsau who collected a specimen in 1965 that was recently identified as this species.
