Chestnut-bellied starling

The chestnut-bellied starling (Lamprotornis pulcher) is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. This is a common resident in arid Sahelian acacia savanna, namely in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, and Togo.

Chestnut-bellied starling
Belbedji, Niger
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Sturnidae
Genus:	Lamprotornis
Species:	L. pulcher
Binomial name
Lamprotornis pulcher (Müller, 1776)

Description

This is one of the rufous-bellied starlings, and the only one in most of its range. The pale eye differentiates it from Hildebrandt's and Shelley's starlings, while the absence of a white breast band separates it from the Splendid Starling. Predominantly glossy dark-green to blue, with a distinct dark (and not glossy) head and breast.