Sturnornis albofrontatus
Silhouette: Rafael Maia · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The white-faced starling (Sturnornis albofrontatus) is a member of the starling family of birds. It is an endemic resident breeder in Sri Lanka. The white-faced starling was formally described in 1854 by the English naturalist Edgar Leopold Layard under the binomial name Heterornis albofrontata. This species was previously placed in the genus Sturnus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2008 found that the genus was polyphyletic. In the reorganization to create monophyletic genera, the white-faced starling was moved to the resurrected genus Sturnornis that had been introduced in 1879 by William Vincent Legge. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
For many years this species was erroneously believed to have been first described in 1850 by French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte under the binomial name Pastor senex. Although Bonaparte had specified the location as Bengal, this was believed to have been an error. An examination in 1997 of the specimen used by Bonaparte revealed that his brief description applied to Sturnus sericeus Gmelin, JF, 1789, the red-billed starling. The earliest description of the white-faced starling is therefore that... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a White-faced Starling sighting in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 584 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 37th most-seen of the 156 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and December–February
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a White-faced Starling in Sinharaja Forest Reserve on a given day, against about 30% in March–April and June–November, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-faced 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.
Only Sinharaja Forest Reserve, in our data
Sinharaja Forest Reserve is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate White-faced Starling sightings: about 30% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Sturnidae
The closest relatives of the White-faced Starling that you can see in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (family Sturnidae, Starlings) are Ceylon Myna (about 50%) and Southern Hill Myna (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-faced Starling is recorded against all the birds logged in Sinharaja Forest Reserve (584 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.
