Superb Starling

Lamprotornis superbus

Iridescent blue-green above, rusty-orange below, with a white chest band like a tuxedo shirt.

Population: Not numerically quantified; BirdLife/IUCN describe it as widespread and abundant across an extremely large range (~3,030,000 km²), with an overall decreasing population trend (tree cover loss ~5.5% in range over past decade, implying ~1-19% population decline)
Habitat: Savanna, thornbush and acacia scrub, open and lakeshore woodland, grassland, gardens, and cultivated/arable land; occurs from sea level up to about 2,650-3,000 m (sources vary slightly) but generally avoids humid lowland forest
Fun fact: Superb Starlings are cooperative breeders living in close-knit family groups of up to a dozen or more birds, where both breeding parents and 1-14 non-breeding alloparents (relatives and sometimes unrelated helpers) feed and defend the dominant pair's chicks.
Range: East Africa: resident in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda; an introduced/established population also occurs in the United Arab Emirates
Diet: Omnivorous — mainly ground-caught insects (termites, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, mantids, moth larvae/caterpillars) supplemented with berries, small fruits, seeds, nectar, and occasional carrion/scavenging near human settlements
Size: 0.18 m
Lifespan: 15 years

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