African Pied Starling
Lamprotornis bicolor
Starlings (Sturnidae) · Passeriformes (Passeriformes)
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Often mixed up with
In quizzes, players most often confuse African Pied Starling with these birds— either this species was picked by mistake, or the other way around.
| Species | Mix-ups |
|---|---|
| Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus | 1 |
| Brown-necked Parrot Poicephalus fuscicollis | 1 |
| Rock Martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula | 1 |
| Dark-backed Weaver Ploceus bicolor | 1 |
Family
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plumage; their complex vocalizations including mimicking; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, known as murmuration. All members of the family Sturnidae, commonly called sturnids, are known collectively as starlings. The Sturnidae are named for the genus Sturnus, which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus.
Order
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest order of birds and one of the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of …