Sturnia pagodarum
Silhouette: Rafael Maia · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The brahminy starling or brahminy myna (Sturnia pagodarum) 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 brahminy 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 pagodarum. The specific epithet pagodarum is Modern Latin meaning "of the temples" or "of the pagodas". Gmelin based his account on the "Le Martin Brame" that had been described in 1782 by the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat in his book Voyage aux Indes orientales et à la Chine. Sonnerat mentioned that the bird was found on the Malabar and Coromandel Coasts of India.
The brahminy starling was formerly placed in the genus Sturnus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2008 found that the genus was polyphyletic. In the reoganization to create monotypic genera, the brahminy starling was one of five starlings moved to the resurrected genus Sturnia that had been introduced in 1837 by René Lesson. The species... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Gir National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 10 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 13 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 14 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 15 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Chester Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 5 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 6 | Santillana Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 7 | Volière | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brahminy Starling sighting in New Delhi on a given day, based on 931 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 43rd most-seen of the 248 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Brahminy Starling in New Delhi on a given day, against about 10% in September to June, the lowest months. Those are among New Delhi's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain a month against almost none in November.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brahminy Starling sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
27th of 58
Of the 58 cities where we can rate Brahminy Starling sightings, New Delhi ranks 27th at about 10%. The best odds are in Solapur (India, about 60%), Jaipur (India, about 40%) and Indore (India, about 40%).
Same family: Sturnidae
The closest relatives of the Brahminy Starling that you can see in New Delhi (family Sturnidae, Starlings) are Indian Pied Starling (about 20%), Bank Myna (about 10%) and Rosy Starling (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brahminy Starling is recorded against all the birds logged in New Delhi (931 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.
