UK visitors: 37 records a year
Family: Starlings
In breeding plumage, adult male rose-coloured starlings have a glossy pink back and rump, black breast, and dark brown wings with glossed green secondaries. The uppertail is dark brown with green iridescence. The lower breast and belly are pale pink, and the undertail coverts and thighs are black.
The head and throat are black with a purple gloss, and on the nape there are elongated feathers that form a crest. The bill is pink with a black base, the eyes are dark brown, and the legs and feet are pink.
Out of breeding plumage, rose-coloured starlings have grey tips on the black feathers, brown tips on the pink feathers and undertail coverts, and buff edges on the flight feathers and wing coverts. The bill is dark brown in autumn and dull pink in winter.
Females are similar to males but have a shorter crest. In spring, throat, nape, and undertail coverts are brown with paler tips.
Juveniles have grey upperparts, a pale rump with a pink wash, brown wings and tail with paler edges. The underparts are buff and the chin and throat are paler with a scaled pattern.
The bill is horn-coloured, the eye is dark brown with a pale eye-ring, and the legs and feet are yellowy-brown.
In the first winter the back and underparts are browner than adults, the undertail coverts have pale tips, and the head is dull black with a short crest.
Try our interactive bird identifier
Rose-coloured starlings breed between May and July and produce 1 or 2 clutches a year. They breed in large colonies in the cracks of rocks and cliffs, among stones, in crevices in buildings, or in holes in trees. They will sometimes use an abandoned nest. Both male and female build the nest which is a cup-shaped structure made from grass and twigs and lined with finer grass and feathers, as well as aromatic plants such as wormwood which may be used for their insecticidal properties. Sometimes two females will share the nest.
Rose-coloured starlings lay 3-6 slightly glossy pale blue eggs which are incubated by both parents for 15 days. Chicks are fed by both parents and fledge at about 24 days but depend on their parents for a few more days. They reach sexual maturity at 1 year.
Rose-coloured starlings feed mainly on locusts and grasshoppers. It will also take ants, beetles, moths, spiders, snails, woodlice, and caterpillars.
In winter it will also eat fruit, seeds, and nectar. It forages in large flocks and will sometimes follow cattle to prey on insects they have disturbed.
Rose-coloured starlings are rare visitors to the UK but can be seen in spring or early summer and sometimes autumn. The can turn up in gardens often alongside European starlings.
Britain's Birds
RSPB Handbook Of British Birds
Collins Bird Guide
In the birding world, adult rose-coloured starlings are given the nickname ‘Pink Stink’, while juveniles are known as ‘Fawn Yawns’.
