The Superb Starling - Blog by Dr Somdutt Prasad
Subtitle: Somdutt Prasad is back from the Porini Cheetah Camp, Masai Mara, Kenya bringing beautiful pictures and videos from Masai Mara. Here is the first of the series on Masai Mara.
Publisher: Somdutt Prasad
Published: 2017
Description: Somdutt Prasad is back from the Porini Cheetah Camp, Masai Mara, Kenya bringing beautiful pictures and videos from Masai Mara. Here is the first of the series on Masai Mara.

We were at the Porini Cheetah camp, Masai Mara, Kenya. As in most safaris, late morning is not a good time to see the mammals, as they all are resting in the shade, and even if they can be spotted are inactive. With the harsh flat light of the overhead sun, this is also not the best time to photograph them, so as we were returning for a late breakfast we started looking for birds. We were lucky enough to see this very colourful and bright bird feeding, off course one of the best times to photograph birds is when they are feeding as they tend to hover around the same spot, and also the worm (or other food), in the beak, adds to the ‘punch’ of the shot. The superb starling (Lamprotornissuperbus formerly called the SpreoSuperbus) is a common bird in East Africa, including Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda. It’s striking colours attracted me to spend some time photographing it.

They are often found in Acacia arid areas and thornbush although also seen in gardens. We saw this one on an Acacia. They are about 7 to 8 inches long with a distinct plumage. Black heads with iridescent blue-to-green back, upper breast, wings, and tail. The belly is red-orange, with a blue breast. The undertail coverts and the wing linings are white. A similar bird also found in East Africa is Hildebrandt’s starling which has red eyes and no white breast brand, compared to the Superb starling which has creamy white eyes, with a distinct white breast band separating the red-orange belly from the blue breast in the adult. 

More Pictures and Anecdotes from my Travelescapades to follow soon on my Tumblr Blog. Do Keep Tab.