Chestnut Tailed Starling

A member of the starling family, the chestnut-tailed starling (Sturnia malabarica) is sometimes known as the grey-headed starling or grey-headed myna. It is a species that lives in wooded areas in India and Southeast Asia and is either a resident or partially migratory. The range of a former subspecies in the Malabar region served as the model for the species’ name. Although the Malabar starling, a closely similar resident breeding population with a white head, is currently recognized as a separate species, the chestnut-tailed starling is a winter visitor to peninsular India. 

The adults measure about 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) in length overall. Their remaining plumage varies in color depending on the subspecies, but they have grey upperparts and blackish remiges. The underparts, including the undertail, are rufous in the nominate subspecies and Blythii, but they are whitish tinged rufous in Nemoricola, particularly on the flanks and crissum (the undertail coverts encircling the cloaca). The heads of both the nominate and nemoricola are light gray with whitish striping, particularly on the crown and collar area. The irises of both subspecies are white, and their bills are yellow with a light blue background.

Usually found in open forest and agricultural areas, the chestnut-tailed starling nests 3–12 m (9.8–39.4 ft) up in an old barbet or woodpecker hole in a tree trunk. Normal clutch size is three to five pale blue, unmarked eggs. Normally, the nesting season lasts from March until June.