Lamprotornis bicolor
Silhouette: Rafael Maia · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The pied starling or African pied starling (Lamprotornis bicolor) is a bird endemic to South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini. It is common in most of its range, but largely absent from the arid northwest and the eastern lowlands of South Africa. It is found in open habitats such as grassland, karoo scrub, thornbush and agricultural land, and often associates with farm animals.
The pied starling was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus and coined the binomial name Turdus bicolor. Gmelin based his description on "Le merle brun du cap de Bonne Espérance" that had been described in 1775 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his book Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The pied starling is now placed in the genus Lamprotornis that was introduced in 1820 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
The adult of this 27–28 cm (11 in) long starling has mainly dully glossed black plumage except for a white lower belly and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Golden Gate Highlands National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | uMkhuze Game Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Birds of Eden | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pied Starling sighting in Johannesburg on a given day, based on 34 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 159th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pied Starling in Johannesburg on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pied Starling sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 cities where we can rate Pied Starling sightings, Johannesburg ranks 2nd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Pretoria (South Africa, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pied Starling is recorded against all the birds logged in Johannesburg (34 verified sightings), 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.
