The Golden-Breasted Starling has been called the most beautiful starling in the world.
The golden-breasted starling (Lamprotornis regius) is a medium-sized, up to 35 cm long, passerine in the starling family. The Golden-Breasted Starling is also known as the royal starling and is a social animal, living in groups of 3 to 12 individuals.
The bird diet consists mostly of insects and termites and some fruit of Commiphora and Dobera, though adult birds catch insects in flight and dig up termite mounds to find prey. They spend most of their time on the ground, running or hopping in their hunt for insects. To catch termites, they use rapid flicks of the bill to dig down to their tunnels. When disturbed, they will fly to the next bush. They infrequently fly above three meters.
The golden-breasted starling molts once a year, after the breeding season. The female usually lays between 3 to 5 pale green eggs with red speckles. The birds habitually make nests in tree holes, which are made from leaves, roots, straw, and other vegetation. Moreover, the whole family groups cooperates in raising young by gathering food and nesting materials. The bird likes the rainy season for breeding, i.e. March to May and November to December. Therefore, during the hotter daylight hours, Golden-breasted starlings will chatter away in a subdued voice with their mates. Their flight or contact number is cheeo cheeo. When signaling danger, they use chiar chiar.
The stunning Golden-breasted Starling is widely distributed in the grassland, savannah, and shrub-land of East Africa, including Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and northern Tanzania. Furthermore, this species and L. unicolor, sometimes placed in a separate genus, appear inseparable from birds in the rest of the species’ range. Moreover, just like all starling species, Golden-breasted starlings are highly social birds, noisy and garrulous when together. They gather in pairs or groups of up to a dozen. During the breeding season, group members assist with nest building and feeding.
Both sexes are similar; however, the young are duller than the adult. The adult bird has a metallic green head and upper back, bright golden yellow breast and belly, dark bill and legs, white iris and metallic violet-blue on wings, back, neck, and long tail feathers. The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as locally common.
The population trend appears to be stable, and it is widespread throughout its habitat range; hence, it does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion. The bird is evaluated as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Unluckily, its stunning colorations make it easy for the wild bird trade to create a market for it. So, “Cosmopsarus regius” populations have come under pressure in some areas due to large-scale capturing.
The bird tail is 60% of bird’s length and would usually be its main feature, however, starling coloration and vivid golden yellow cover the rest of the underparts, including the thighs and under-tail coverts. The legs are black. This species is also known as the superb starling.
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Source: BirdLife and Wikipedia
