Pastor roseus
Silhouette: Rafael Maia · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The rosy starling (Pastor roseus), also known as the rose-coloured starling, is a passerine bird in the starling family Sturnidae. The species was restored to its own monotypic genus Pastor in 2008, formerly being included in a wide interpretation of the genus Sturnus. This split is supported by further studies, with its closest relative now thought to be the wattled starling (Creatophora cinerea) of tropical Africa, with these two then closest to a large group of Asian starlings and mynas.
The rosy starling was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the thrushes in the genus Turdus and coined the binomial name Turdus roseus. Linnaeus gave the type locality as Lapland and Switzerland. It is now the only species placed in the genus Pastor that was introduced by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1815. The species is monotypic, with no subspecies being recognised. The genus name and the old English name come from the Latin pastor meaning "shepherd", and by extension a pastor. The specific roseus is Latin for "rose-coloured".
The adult rosy starling is... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 3 | Gir National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 7 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 12 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rajkot | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Kalyan-Dombivli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Vadodara | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Ahmedabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Surat | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Jaipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Tashkent | 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warsaw Zoo | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | ZooTampa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Wilhelma | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | herpetarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 6 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Rosy Starling sighting in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 151st most-seen of the 169 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Rosy Starling in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–September and November, the lowest months. That is one of Wilpattu National Park's wettest months, with about 260 mm of rain against 40 mm in February.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rosy 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.
6th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Rosy Starling sightings, Wilpattu National Park ranks 6th at under 5%. The best odds are in Udawalawe National Park (Sri Lanka, about 30%), Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 20%) and Gir National Park (India, about 10%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Rosy Starling that you can see in Wilpattu National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Oriental Magpie-Robin (about 60%), Indian Robin (about 60%) and Black-hooded Oriole (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rosy Starling is recorded against all the birds logged in Wilpattu National Park (12 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.
