Black-bellied Starling

Black-bellied Starling

Notopholia corrusca

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Addo Elephant National Park

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%

34 Verified sightings at Addo Elephant National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,492 In all 6 parks
February Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Black-bellied Starling

The black-bellied starling (Notopholia corusca) is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae, originally described by zoologist Alexander von Nordmann in 1835. It is found in Eswatini, Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

Their iris color changes by mood or behavior due to fluctuations in blood flow rates. Black-bellied (glossy) starling – Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds Wikipedia →

Sounds

Song0:28

South Africa · 2026

© JJSUN · XC1079972 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Call0:52

Kenya · 2024

© Peter Boesman · XC948291 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Song0:22

South Africa · 2021

© Tim Cockcroft · XC654797 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 iSimangaliso Wetland Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~40%
2 uMkhuze Game Reserve 🇿🇦 South Africa
~40%
3 Garden Route National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
4 Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
5 Addo Elephant National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~10%
6 Kruger National Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Durban 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%
2 Dar es-Salaam 🇹🇿 Tanzania
~10%
3 Mombasa 🇰🇪 Kenya
~10%
4 Zanzibar City 🇹🇿 Tanzania
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Black-bellied Starling in Addo Elephant National Park?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-bellied Starling sighting in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, based on 34 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 131st most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Black-bellied Starling in Addo Elephant National Park?

February

In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black-bellied Starling in Addo Elephant National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, April–July and October–November, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Black-bellied Starling?

Between 6 and 9 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-bellied Starling sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Which relatives of the Black-bellied Starling live in Addo Elephant National Park?

Same family: Sturnidae

The closest relatives of the Black-bellied Starling that you can see in Addo Elephant National Park (family Sturnidae, Starlings) are Red-shouldered Glossy-starling (about 50%), Red-winged Starling (about 30%) and Pied Starling (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Black-bellied Starling sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Black-bellied Starling is recorded against all the birds logged in Addo Elephant National Park (34 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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