The Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling, or Greater Blue-eared Starling, Lamprotornis chalybaeus, is a bird that breeds from Senegal east to Ethiopia, and south through eastern Africa to northeastern South Africa and Angola. It is a very common species of open woodland which undertakes some seasonal movements.

Description From behind

The Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling is a 22 cm long, short tailed bird. This starling is glossy blue-green with a purple-blue belly and blue ear patch. Its iris is bright yellow or orange. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile is duller and has blackish brown underparts.

The populations from southern Kenya southwards are smaller than northern birds and are sometimes considered to be a separate subspecies, L. c. sycobius.

The Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling is very similar to this species, but the blue of the belly does not extend forward of the legs in that bird.

The Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling has a range of musical or grating calls, but the most familiar is a nasal squee-ar.

Behaviour

Breeding

The Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling nests in holes in trees, either natural or excavated by woodpeckers or barbets. It will also nest inside the large stick nests of the Sacred Ibis or Abdim's Stork. The three to five eggs are greenish-blue with some brown or purple spots, and hatch in 13-14 days. The chicks leave the nest in another 23 days.

This species is parasitised by the Great Spotted Cuckoo and occasionally the Greater Honeyguide

Roosting

The Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling is highly gregarious and will form large flocks, often with other starlings. Its roosts, in reedbed, thorn bushes, or acacia, may also be shared.

Feeding

Like other starlings, the Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling is an omnivore, taking a wide range of invertebrates seeds and berries, especially figs, but is diet is mainly insects taken from the ground.

It will perch on livestock, feeding on insects disturbed by the animals and occasionally removing ectoparasites.

General references Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lamprotornis chalybaeus

• Feare, Chris; Craig, Adrian (1999). Starlings and Mynas. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-7136-3961-X. 
• Sinclair, Ian; Hockey, Phil and Tarboton, Warwick (2002). SASOL Birds of Southern Africa. Struik. ISBN 1-86872-721-1.