Asian Pied Starling

Latin Name: 
Gracupica contra
Category: 
Size: 
23cm
Description: 

Sexes alike. Black and white (pied) plumage distinctive; orange-red beak and orbital skin in front of eyes confirm identity. Sociable; small parties either move on their own or associate with other birds, notably other mynas and drongos; rather common and familiar over its range but keeps a distance from man; may make its ungainly nest in garden trees, but never inside houses, nor does it enter houses; more a bird of open, cultivated areas, preferably where there is water; attends to grazing cattle; occasionally raids standing crops.

Habitat: 
open cultivation, orchards, vicinity of habitation.
Food: 
insects, flower nectar, grain.
Distribution: 
bird of northcentral, central and eastern India, south and east of a line roughly from E Punjab, through E Rajasthan, W Madhya Pradesh to the Krishna delta; escaped cage birds have established themselves in several areas out of original range as in and ar
Call: 
Call Description: 
noisy; a mix of pleasant whistling and screaming notes.
National Status: