Meves's Starling (Lamprotornis mevesii)
About the Meves's Starling
Meves's starling (Lamprotornis mevesii), also Meves's glossy starling and Long-tailed starling, is a species of starling in the genus Lamprotornis. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its English and Latin names commemorate the German ornithologist Friedrich Wilhelm Meves. It is 30–36 cm long, with a very long tail; in dull light coloured black, but in bright light, with moderate to intensely strong iridescent gloss. It can be distinguished from the similar Burchell's starling by its longer tail with strongly graduated feathers (the central pair of tail feathers the longest, with subsequent pairs of feathers shorter to the outermost), and from other long-tailed species of Lamprotornis by its dark eyes. Three subspecies are accepted:
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 39 recordings for this species: 13 CC BY-NC-ND · 2 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Golden-breasted StarlingLamprotornis regiusrecording
- Superb StarlingLamprotornis superbusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.