Speculipastor bicolor
Silhouette: Rafael Maia · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The magpie starling (Speculipastor bicolor) is a member of the starling family from eastern Africa. The magpie starling is about 16–19 cm (6.5–7.5 in) in length. The white patches at base of primaries are obvious in flight. The male is a shiny blue-black on upperparts, head and upper breast, with mostly white below and bloodred eyes. The female is a dull blackish above with dark grey crown, and a dark grey throat is separated from white belly by a glossy black breast band. Her eyes are red or orange-red. The Juvenile is brown with a white belly; eyes brown, becoming orange-red in as the bird matures. Exceptional young birds are entirely white below, including chin and throat.
The call is a prolonged soft babbling quereeeh quaaa kereek quak-quak, suaaaa, cherak-chik-chak...mixed higher harsh notes. It is a gregarious nomadic pied starling of dry brush and thorn-scrub in northern and eastern Kenya. It is also found in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Dale A. Zimmerman, Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania, Princeton University Press, 1999
Image at ADW Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Magpie Starling sighting in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, based on 52 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 197th most-seen of the 345 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.
February
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Magpie Starling in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–August and December–January, the lowest months. That is one of Tsavo East National Park's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain against 130 mm in November.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Magpie Starling sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Magpie Starling sightings, Tsavo East National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 10%).
Same family: Sturnidae
The closest relatives of the Magpie Starling that you can see in Tsavo East National Park (family Sturnidae, Starlings) are Superb Starling (about 70%), Fischer's Starling (about 60%) and Golden-breasted Starling (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Magpie Starling is recorded against all the birds logged in Tsavo East National Park (52 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.
