Violet-backed Starling

Cinnyricinclus leucogaster (Boddaert, 1783)

Violet-backed Starling, Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, is a starling of widespread mainland Africa, with breeding also in the south-western Arabian Peninsula. It belongs to the family Sturnidae and is the only species in Cinnyricinclus. In its range it is linked with open woodland, gallery forest, forest edges and clearings, and it is mainly a bird of trees rather than the ground. The species is sexually dimorphic, with the male showing an iridescent violet head and back and the female having brown, streaked upperparts and heavily marked underparts.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Sturnidae — Starlings, Rhabdornises

Breeding range

Africa: widespread, also sw Arabian Pen.