Howdy, friends. I chose the bird this week in an effort to bring some geographical diversity to these headers, as they had been pretty focused on north and south America for a while. Unfortunately I picked a bird that looks cool, but about which I couldn’t find a whole lot of info or pictures.

Our bird this week is the copper-tailed starling, also known as the copper-tailed glossy starling. It is characterized by iridescent plumage that can look black in low light, and a bewitching array of blues and purples when the light strikes it. It is also distinguished from some of its relatives by its bright yellow eye. The copper-tailed starling lives on the coast of western Africa, in Sierra Leon, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. It feeds on insects and a variety of fruits as well as nectar. It nests in holes in dead trees or branches. It likes lowland forests, forest edges, and gallery forests, which we’ve come across a few times. These are forests that grow along the banks of bodies of water in otherwise dry biomes. It is listed as “near threatened” by the IUCN due to habitat loss as forests are cleared for logging. Nonetheless, there are thought to be as many as half a million of these birds, and its large range may protect it, as in the case of a few other birds we’ve covered. Included are the best pictures I could find, even after learning about its AKA and resorting to using Bing. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Links: https://tinyurl.com/5n7acha6, https://tinyurl.com/5n77u56b, https://tinyurl.com/3d9uz3dp, https://tinyurl.com/58632kfr, https://tinyurl.com/4jphz5a3, https://tinyurl.com/3h8xtnt5