Medium-sized grey and chestnut starling, with white irises; head and neck pale grey, usually with whitish shafts or hackles; upperparts grey; underparts rufous chestnut; hackles on breast; prominent blue base to yellow bill; tail chestnut, with central feathers grey; female duller, paler; racial variations; very gregarious;
usually in noisy feeding flocks; mainly arboreal, though will descend to lower fruiting, flowering shrubs, or to ground; acrobatic feeder.