STARLING 3/5 - Asian Pied

                                  Asian Pied Starling
 

The Asian Pied Starling or Pied Myna. They are usually found mainly on clearings, plains and low foothills. They produce a range of calls made up of fluid like call similar to myna. It can also mimic human voices making them popular as cagebirds. Fortunately it is fairly common in South East Asian and India.

AP Starlings are usual found in small groups, foraging on the ground but perching on trees and buildings. Birds in a group call frequently with a wide repertoire that includes whistles, trills, buzzes, clicks, and warbling calls. Young birds taken into captivity have been trained to imitate tunes of other birds. They forage in fields, lawns and on open ground feeding on grains, fruit, insects, earthworms and molluscs usually taken from the ground. Like many other starlings, they often use a prying or gaping action, piercing soil and then opening apart the bill to dislodge hidden food. The strong protractor muscles allow them to part a mat of grass and their eyes are positioned to obtain a binocular view of the space between the parted beak. AP Starling are considered vagrant or neighbouring visitor to peninsula Malaysia nearer to border of Thailand. I got to see a group of about eight at the soil pond of the Felda Sugar Mill in Chuping (Perlis). Many of them already paired up. I am not sure they will breeding here or should travelling back north before March........

We can see their courtship involves calling, fluffing of the feathers and head bobbing. The nest is a loose mass of straw formed into a dome with an entrance on the side and placed in a large tree (often banyan, mango, jackfruit, rosewood) or sometimes on man-made structures often close to human habitation. Several pairs will breed in the same vicinity. The usual clutch is made up of about four to six glossy blue eggs. Each egg is laid with a day in between and incubation begins only after the third or fourth egg is laid. The eggs hatch after 14 to 15 days. The young are brooded for two weeks, the female staying at the nest during the night. Both parents feed the chicks until they fledge and leave after three weeks.





A new colony of Asian Pied has been sighted at Port Kelang Golf Club in May 2015.