Editing Spotless starling

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Spotless starling
| image = Estornino Negro. Casa de Campo. Madrid (3).jpg
| image_caption = in winter plumage
| image2 = Sturnus unicolor-male singing.jpg
| image2_caption = breeding male
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Sturnus unicolor'' |volume=2016 |page=e.T22710893A87851643 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22710893A87851643.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
| taxon = Sturnus unicolor
| authority = [[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck]], 1820
| range_map = Unicolor.gif
}}
The '''spotless starling''' ('''''Sturnus unicolor''''') is a [[passerine]] [[bird]] in the [[starling]] family, Sturnidae. It is closely related to the [[common starling]] (''S. vulgaris''), but has a much more restricted range, confined to the [[Iberian Peninsula]], Northwest [[Africa]], southernmost [[France]], and the islands of [[Sicily]], [[Corsica]] and [[Sardinia]]. It is largely [[bird migration|non-migratory]].<ref name=Hoyo>{{cite book | editor-last = Hoyo| editor-first = J. del |display-editors=etal | title = Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 14| publisher = Lynx Edicions| year = 2009 | location = Barcelona| pages = 725 | isbn = 978-84-96553-50-7}}</ref><ref name=ebcc>Hagemeijer, W. J. M., & Blair, M. J., eds. (1997). ''[[The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds]]'' pp. 690. Poyser, London {{ISBN|0-85661-091-7}}.</ref><ref name=Snow>{{cite book |title=The Birds of the Western Palearctic |last=Snow |first=D. W. |author2=Perrins, C. M. | edition = Concise | year=1998 | pages = 1496–1498 | publisher=Oxford University Press |location= Oxford|isbn= 0-19-854099-X}}</ref>

==Taxonomy and systematics==

Subsequent to the recent split of the genus ''[[Sturnus]]'', this species and the common starling are the only species retained in the genus.<ref>Zuccon, D., Pasquet, E., & Ericson, P. G. P. (2008). Phylogenetic relationships among Palearctic–Oriental starlings and mynas (genera Sturnus and Acridotheres: Sturnidae). ''Zoologica Scripta'' 37: 469–481. [http://www.nrm.se/download/18.251938811dab4a5dcc8000180/Zuccon+et+al+Sturnus+ZSC+2008.pdf Full text]</ref><ref>IOC World Bird List: [http://www.worldbirdnames.org/n-sugarbirds.html Sturnidae]</ref> [[Hybrid (biology)|Hybrids]] with the common starling are found occasionally where the breeding ranges overlap in southwestern [[France]] and northeastern [[Spain]].<ref name=Hoyo/><ref name=ebcc/>

==Description==

The adult spotless starling is very similar to the common starling, but marginally larger (21–23&nbsp;cm length; 70–100&nbsp;g weight), and has darker, oily-looking black plumage, slightly purple- or green-glossed in bright light, which is entirely spotless in spring and summer, and only with very small pale spots in winter plumage, formed by the pale tips of the feathers. It also differs in having conspicuously longer throat feathers (twice the length of those on common starlings<ref name=Hoyo/>), forming a shaggy "beard" which is particularly obvious when the bird is singing. Its legs are bright pink. In summer, the bill is yellow with a bluish base in males and a pinkish base in females; in winter, it is duller, often blackish. Young birds are dull brown, darker than young common starlings, and have a black bill and brown legs.<ref name=Snow/><ref name=Blasco>Blasco-Zumeta, J., & Heinze, G.-M. (undated). Laboratorio Virtual Ibercaja [http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/417_SpotlessStarlingSunicolor.pdf 417 Spotless Starling]</ref> Confusion with the common starling is particularly easy during the winter, when common starlings are abundant throughout the spotless starling's range, but also in summer where their breeding ranges overlap in northeastern [[Spain]] and the far southwest of [[France]].<ref name=Snow/> It can also be confused with the [[common blackbird]] (''Turdus merula''), which differs most obviously in its longer tail and lack of plumage gloss.<ref name=Blasco/>

Like the common starling, it walks rather than hops, and has a strong direct flight, looking triangular-winged and short-tailed. It is a noisy bird and a good mimic; its calls are similar to the common starling's, but louder.<ref name=Snow/>

==Distribution and habitat ==
The spotless starling uses a wide range of habitats and can be found in any reasonably open environment, from farmland and [[olive]] groves to human habitation. The highest population densities are in open grazed [[Quercus ilex|holm oak]] woods, and in urban habitats such as [[Gibraltar]], where it is common.<ref name=ebcc/><ref>[http://www.gonhs.org/Birds_000.htm The Gibraltar Bird List]</ref> The population has grown in recent decades with a northward expansion in range, spreading to the whole of Spain (previously absent from the northeast) between 1950 and 1980, and colonising locally along the southern coast of mainland France since 1983.<ref name=ebcc/><ref name=Snow/> Like its more common relative, it is an omnivore, taking a wide variety of invertebrates, berries, and human-provided scraps. It is gregarious, forming sizeable flocks, often mixed with common starlings, of up to 100,000 in winter.<ref name=Hoyo/>

Like most starlings, it is a cavity-nesting species, breeding in tree holes, buildings and in cliff crevices. It typically lays three to five eggs.<ref name=Hoyo/>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor) display composite.jpg|Mating display of raising feathers
File:Sturnus unicolor MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.215.Andalousie.jpg|Eggs of '' Sturnus unicolor'' - [[MHNT]]
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/417_SpotlessStarlingSunicolor.pdf Ageing and Sexing (PDF; 4.5 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q836833}}

[[Category:Sturnus|spotless starling]]
[[Category:Starlings|spotless starling]]
[[Category:Birds of Southern Europe]]
[[Category:Birds of North Africa]]
[[Category:Fauna of the Iberian Peninsula]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1820|spotless starling]]