A common resident confined in South Africa to north eastern Zululand and the Lowveld below the eastern escarpment and over the northern parts of Namibia, Botswana and the entire Zimbabwe and Mozambique regions.
These starlings like open woodland, savanna, riverine forest and bushveld with fairly tall dense ground cover. Found in pairs when breeding, otherwise gregarious in large flocks. They forage mainly by running about on the ground becoming tame in game reserves camps, taking scraps from tables. Food preference is fruit, insects and seeds.
Flight is fast and direct with loud swishing wingbeats. They roost communally in trees and reedbeds.
Flocks sing in chorus from perches in trees. The call is a somewhat querulous drawn out nasal skweer – skwee – weer with a jumble of squeaks and squawks and a harsh shwarr alarm note.
Breeding season is August to November. The nest is a pad of grass, feathers and snakeskin made in the hollow of a tree. Three to four pale greenish blue eggs with red or grey spots are laid. The incubation time being 14 days and nestlings for 23 days.
The tribal name is Leswedi and in Afrikaans die groot – blouoorglansspreeu.
