Onychognathus morio
Silhouette: Rafael Maia · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The red-winged starling (Onychognathus morio) is a bird of the starling family Sturnidae native to eastern and southern Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa. An omnivorous, generalist species, it prefers cliffs and mountainous areas for nesting, and has moved into cities and towns due to similarity to its original habitat.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the red-winged starling in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. He used the French name Le merle du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Merula Capitis Bonae Spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the red-winged starling. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Turdus morio and cited Brisson's work. The specific name morio or morion is Latin for "dark brown stone" or "black quartz... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dresden Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Zlín-Lešná Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Dvůr Králové Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 4 | Night Safari | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 5 | Singapore Zoo | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 6 | Bird Paradise | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 7 | Rainforest Wild Asia | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 8 | Birdworld | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | River Wonders | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 10 | Zoologischer Garten Halle | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Red-winged Starling sighting in Pilanesberg National Park on a given day, based on 220 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 18th most-seen of the 233 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, June and August–September
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Red-winged Starling in Pilanesberg National Park on a given day, against about 30% in May, the lowest month. Those are among Pilanesberg National Park's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain a month against 130 mm in December.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-winged Starling sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 30
Of the 30 parks where we can rate Red-winged Starling sightings, Pilanesberg National Park ranks 4th at about 40%. The best odds are in Table Mountain National Park (South Africa, about 80%), Golden Gate Highlands National Park (South Africa, about 70%) and De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Sturnidae
The closest relatives of the Red-winged Starling that you can see in Pilanesberg National Park (family Sturnidae, Starlings) are Red-shouldered Glossy-starling (about 50%) and Violet-backed Starling (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-winged Starling is recorded against all the birds logged in Pilanesberg National Park (220 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.
