• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note

Onychognathus morio and O. neumanni (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) were previously lumped as O. morio following Dowsett & Forbes-Watson (1993) and Sibley & Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	6,950,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	increasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.6 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is described as common to abundant in most areas (Feare and Craig 1998). The population is suspected to be increasing as it has successfully adapted to urban areas.

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be increasing as it has successfully adapted to urban areas.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Lesotho	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 4000 m

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Red-winged Starling Onychognathus morio. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/red-winged-starling-onychognathus-morio on 18/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 18/12/2024.