Violet-backed Starling

Cinnyricinclus leucogaster

The male's back is pure structural violet, no pigment at all. Angle changes, color explodes.

Population: Not quantified in any accessible source; described qualitatively as common and widespread across its sub-Saharan African range (BirdLife DataZone/IUCN factsheet numeric data inaccessible — JS-rendered placeholder even via reader proxy).
Habitat: Open woodland, gallery forest, forest edges and clearings; avoids dense Congo Basin rainforest and the arid parts of southwestern Africa; recorded up to ~2,100 m elevation.
Fun fact: Male Violet-backed Starlings are among the most iridescent birds in Africa, with a glossy amethyst-violet head and back that contrasts sharply with pure white underparts, while females look entirely different — a cryptic, thrush-like brown and streaked plumage — making the sexes easy to mistake for two different species.
Range: Widespread across sub-Saharan Africa in three subspecies: C. l. leucogaster from Senegal/Gambia through the Sahel to South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania; C. l. verreauxi from southern DR Congo through Tanzania south to Botswana, northeastern South Africa and Mozambique; C. l. arabicus from eastern Sudan to northwest Somalia and into the southwestern Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen).
Diet: Mainly fruit and seeds supplemented with arthropods; forages chiefly in the forest canopy (rarely on the ground) and sometimes hawks flying insects flycatcher-style.
Size: 0.18 m
Wingspan: 0.29 m
Lifespan: 10 years

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