Starling

[Scunner]

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa265/jeanforbes/P1000799.jpg

[Kenn]

Lovely pic but it don't look like a starling to me, where's the speckles?

[Scunner]

Its a South African Blue Starling

[northener]

What's a South African Blue Starling doing in Caithness?

I thought starlings had a good sense of direction!

Good piccie:)

[Pterodroma]

The bird in the picture is a Greater Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chalybaeus rather than a South African Cape Glossy Starling Lamprotornis nitens as suggested by Scunner.

Greater Blue-eared has a blue sheen to the belly and flanks (as does the bird in the photo) whereas the South African species has a green sheen.

Greater Blue-eared is fairly commonly distributed in a band south of the Sahara from Senegal through to Ethiopia and then down through East Africa. Cape Glossy has a very much more southerly distribution through South Africa and adjacent countries. The two species overlap at the northern edge od Cape Glossy area.

[Scunner]

The Starling was photographed in the Kruger Park, South Africa

[Kenn]

Thanks for the extra info much appreciated, I was about to go tell my locals that they were not keeping up with current fashion trends!
Lovely bird.

[Pterodroma]

Yes, Greater Blue-eared Starling is common in the Kruger, it is one of the areas where its range overlaps with Cape Glossy.

There is another indication that the bird in the photo is Greater Blue-eared. Although the bird is looking at the camera, if you look closely you will note that the ear coverts are a deep blue and that they form a large patch which contrasts with the rest of the head. This is a characteristic of Greater Blue-eared and is not seen in Cape Glossy.

There is no doubt that the bird in the picture is a Greater Blue-eared Starling.