Starling 6/10 - Common Starling aka European Starling (Lifer 520)

This would be the mega lifer for a start  in 2019  in Malaysia. News came late and I am not sure what Starling it was until TK who message me it the European Starling aka Common Starling that has landed in Port Klang Selangor. With the confirmation I took  time off  from my work immediately to tick this  vagrant lifer to Malaysia. Reaching the port  there were many birders there already. You just shoot it from the car. So a beanbag or improvised pillow will do as the can come close to 30-50 ft of your car. If  a birder embark and set up their tripod they then  keep away.

There was only a single  juvenile/first winter   bird following several Rosy Starlings. The latter are also uncommon Starling to see in Peninsula.

Apparently it is a "lapsup" bird in Europe which you can see in the thousands murmuring across open  and suburbs country land. Based on my Field Guide they do land in South East Asia countries of Northern part of Thailand until Myammar & Tonkin  side but never down to Peninsula. My only suspect is the recent monsoon storm  "Baduk" that had brought it to our shore. So guys this  is first record for Peninsula and you should not miss this once a life time sighting!

There was a single non-breeding Common Starling amongst Rosy Starlings which it follow around. This vagrant is most likely a native of northern hemisphere namely Eurasia and is found throughout Europe, northern Africa (from Morocco to Egypt), India (mainly in the north but regularly extending further south and extending into the Maldives) Nepal, the Middle East including Syria, Iran, and Iraq and north-western China. Until somebody tag it and see where it is land on its return trip then only we will now.

Wiki extract: The common starling is a highly gregarious species, especially in autumn and winter. Although flock size is highly variable, huge, noisy flocks - murmurations - may form near roosts. These dense concentrations of birds are thought to be a defence against attacks by birds of prey such as peregrine falcons or Eurasian sparrowhawks. Flocks form a tight sphere-like formation in flight, frequently expanding and contracting and changing shape, seemingly without any sort of leader. Each common starling changes its course and speed as a result of the movement of its closest neighbours.

Very large roosts, exceptionally up to 1.5 million birds, can form in city centres, woodlands or reedbeds, causing problems with their droppings. These may accumulate up to 30 cm (12 in) deep, killing trees by their concentration of chemicals. In smaller amounts, the droppings act as a fertiliser, and therefore woodland managers may try to move roosts from one area of a wood to another to benefit from the soil enhancement and avoid large toxic deposits.

Photo shoot with Coolpix P1000 Tv1/160 post edited.

Starling 7/10 - White-shouldered Starling (lifer 519)

It was a bonus lifer catch in Pulau Indah Selangor whilst shooting the "uncommon" Common Starling. The White-shouldered Starling was always in my wanted list after the sighting at Malim Nawar Perak for the past years. Starlings are gregarious in nature in their native breeding ground where they flocks in the hundreds or even thousands. The only Starlings that comes in hundreds to Malaysia  are the Daurian aka Purple-backed during the months of Nov-Mar.

My encounter here in central peninsula Malaysia was a pair of WST. Apparently they do not mix with the other Starlings and kept to themselves in the  other tree. The bird from afar can be mistaken for the Daurian. The  give away  feature of this bird  is their whitish orangy eyes.

The right bird with a bigger white patch on its wings is the male

I was about 120-150 feet away in my car when David and I spotted the pair. Luckily my P1000 was able to capture some static pictures here after much post editing. My XT-2 failed me here. So I must say the P1000 do come in handy as a secondary camera when I am out birding always.

Now is to wait for the Chestnut-cheeked and Braminy Starlings to drop by next year after their present up north last year or so............They are also rather rare migrant/winter visitors  to  Malaysia.

STARLING 5/7 - Rosy Starling

Another lifer 466 in Bandung Indonesia when I was visiting the place.


It is a myna-size starling with pinkish plumage, blackish head, wings, tail and vent. Juvenile has pale sandy greyish-brown upperparts with darker wings and tail, paler underparts and yellowish bill. Rosy Starling are vagrant migrant and   rarely seen in Peninsula thought there are common record sighting in Singapore as their last stop. There is sighting in Chuping Perlis as recent as December 2016. There is also regular sighting as down south to Kuala Gula. In India or Sri Lanka there are gregariously aplenty

The bird prefers open fields, shrubland and coastal bushland. They often feed insects  on the ground level amongst mynas and other birds  


Do you know that - In Xinjiang, China, farmers used to use insecticide to eliminate locust, which is costly and polluting. In the 1980s, experts found that rosy starlings which fly to Xinjiang farms and feed on locusts could be used for control instead. The experts begin to build artificial nests to attract rosy starlings, an effort reported to be so successful that the number of locusts was insufficient to feed the birds, causing many juveniles die for hunger. By the 2000s many Xinjiang farms greatly decreased the usage of insecticide. 

My latest entry 16 January 2017. Sighting was in Pulau Indah.  Five birds were seen here. This is my first time seeing the Rosy Starling in the wild. What bird luck. Thank TK Ang for the head-up!

STARLING 4/6 - Black collared Starling

Since 2013 there were sightings by fellow MNS birders at Bukit Jelutong Shah Alam. Again threesome of 2 adult birds and a juvenile were seen foraging on the ground near the Pavilion recently. Like the Red Whiskered Bulbul; Black-collared Starling are feral (KL Bird Park do have them) or released caged birds. Starlings are an adaptive bird which can propagate easily in a suburban environment. It is recorded as a Malaysian bird in www.birdlist.org. Hopefully, they can establish a good size colony and be actually recognised as a permanent  resident of Malaysia. 

However, there is place in the north that you can see these birds in the wild is at Chuping Perlis namely the ex-sugar plantation and refinery.

The Asian Pied Starlings are already making a mark at Port Kelang Golf Club Selangor. There is more than a dozen of these gregarious birds there as we speak. My blogging buddy just informed me that he has also seen a few Black Collared  there too.


My take was in Xiamen China Dec 2014.

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.
 

STARLING 2/5 - Asian Glossy Starling

 Asian glossy Starling

Passing through Titiwangsa come across a flock of 20-30 of them. They have somewhat become residents in peninsula Malaysia as fruits and grub are aplenty year round. They still migrate though during rainy season? Adapted well to the city scape and nestle on nooks and crevasses of buildings.

They have this eerie red eyes and the silky green-blue coat Nevertheless beautiful bird

STARLING 1/5 - Purple-naped Starling

Purple-naped Starling

This one of few migrant starling that visit the suburban and city scape of Kuala Lumpur.