Scientific name: Onychognathus morio
The male of this 27–30-centimetre (11–12 in) long starling has mainly iridescent black plumage, with chestnut flight feathers, which are particularly noticeable in flight. The female has an ash-grey head and upper breast.
 |
| female |
This starling may be confused with other similar starling species, such as its sister species the pale-winged starling. The difference between the two is that the red-winged has rufous primaries while the pale-winged has whitish primaries edged with orange. The pale-winged has a bright red or orange eye, while the red-winged's is dark, almost black. Only the female of the red-winged has a grey head.
Here it is common from northern Mozambique and Zimbabwe to eastern Botswana and South Africa (as well as Lesotho and Swaziland), while absent from the Karoo and Kalahari. It generally prefers rocky outcrops and gorges in highland grasslands, occasionally visiting forests for fruit, but in recent times it has flourished in urban areas, roosting and nesting in buildings.
It mainly eats fruit supplemented with arthropods, nestlings and lizards, foraging on the ground and in vegetation, gleaning food from leaves and branches. It is an extremely adaptable feeder, as it removes ticks from antelope, picks up scraps at picnic sites, takes food from the intertidal zone and scavenges meat off carcasses.
