Wilkinson's World

The sexes of the Meve’s starling are alike in plumage and the males are slightly larger than the females. Overall it is a glossy blue and the lower back and tail coverts have a purple tint. The graduated tail is blue-violet with darker cross-barring. Bill, legs and feet are black and eyes are dark brown.

Meve’s starlings favour a habitat with tall trees, such as mopane, baobabs and ana trees. In the southern African region they are limited to the far north and outside of the region their range extends northwards as far as Malawi and Zambia.

Their call is a “chwee chwirr chwee“, although they have a variety of other calls and high pitched sounds.

Meve’s starlings may be found in small groups of up to ten birds, and are often found together with other species of starlings. They spend a fair amount of time on the ground, where they feed on insects and termites, and they are known to follow large mammals, including elephants, to take advantage of the insects that are disturbed by their passing.

They are monogamous and build a cup-shaped nest in a natural tree cavity. The female lays a clutch of between three and five blue eggs that hatch after an incubation period of about 18 days. Their nests may be parasitized by the Great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius).

The scientific binomial for the Meve’s starling is Lamprotornis mevesii; Lamprotornis from the Greek for a “Bright or shining bird”; and mevesii after Friederich Meves, one time curator of the Royal Museum in Stockholm. Thus the name just describes a glossy or shining bitd, of which there are many. Not very diagnostic!

Although they occur through large areas of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal southwards, the range of the African green pigeon within the southern African region is limited to the wetter north and east. They frequent dense wooded areas, such as riparian and other forests, particularly where there are fig trees; figs being their staple diet.

African green pigeons are fairly large birds, as pigeons go, with a length of approximately 28 cm. The sexes are alike both in size and plumage colouration. Overall they are green or greyish-green, with lilac carpal patches and bright yellow leggings. Their bills are red with a white tip; feet are red and eyes are bluish-white.

As mentioned, African green pigeons eat mainly fruit, and in particular figs, but they also eat seeds. They generally feed in the high canopies of fruit trees where their colour provides a measure of camouflage, and seldom descend to the ground. Their call is a high pitched trill followed by a series of grunts and they are gregarious when not breeding, gathering into small flocks.

African green pigeons are monogamous and they build a flimsy platform-like nest high up in a leafy tree. The female lays one or two eggs that hatch after an incubation period of about 14 days.

The scientific binomial for the African green pigeon is Treron colvus; Treron from the Greek for “timid or shy”, and colvus from the Latin for “hairless”. Thus the name describes a timid, hairless bird. Well, the African green pigeon is certainly timid and shy, but I have no idea why it should be referred to hairless, which I would have thought is a characteristic of all birds.