| Common Name : | Asian pied starling, Pied myna. |
| Binomial Name : | Gracupica contra |
| Synonym : | Sturnus contra |
| Family : | Sturnidae |
| Bengali Name : | Gobor shalik ( |
| Photo taken : | Bangladesh |
We have a lot of common birds in Bangladesh, but this Pied Myna bird is more than a common bird here. We use to see this bird a lot regardless the place (village, town, or forest). It belongs to the family Sturnidae and its binomial name is Gracupica contra. In English it has another name which is Asian Pied Starling. In Bengali we call this bird as Gobor shalik, Gobre shalik, Gu shalik, Go shalik, etc. This bird is native to the South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Asian Pied Starling (Gracupica contra) is mainly composed with black and white. The wings, back, head, and upper tail are black in color. The under side, behind the eyes (ear area) is white in color. Some part of the wings are also white and which is visible during the flight. The base of the beak is bright orange in color. The eyes are round and having an orange circle around. This bird looks more beautiful only for this small amount of orange (in my opinion).
Pied Myna (Gracupica contra) is a gregarious bird that uses to forage in a small group. They mostly collect their foods from the ground (grass or soil). It is mainly an insectivore bird (takes insects, earthworms, etc), mostly seen piercing the cow dungs or soil with their beak to search hidden foods. It is a very common scene to see this bird perching on the back of grazing animals. This is frequently seen around our villages where we have open fields, and wetlands.
The breeding season for Pied Myna (Gracupica contra) is March to September here in Bangladesh. Both sexes are similar in outlook. They use to collect straws and other nesting materials and build their nest by putting those loosely on the trees. That's why their nests look very large or bulky. They are not choosy for selecting a location for the nest (for example on thick branch). That's why their nests are an easy target for the kids in our village.
A Pied myna (Gracupica contra) is taking a bath.
Pied Myna has several distinctive calls. Their calls are very high pitched. Both male and female can produce the calls.
A small group is foraging over small water hyacinth.
An Asian pied starling foraging at Mustard field.
Probably it is making an alert call!
Photos of Asian Pied Starling (Gracupica contra) were taken from Bangladesh as follows:
1) October 2014: Botanical garden, Mirpur.
2) November 2014: Agarogaon, Dhaka.
3) January 2015: Polashbari, Munsiganj.
4) March 2015: Uttora-18, Dhaka.
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icbird.blogspot.com/
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