Short-tailed Starling Aplonis minor

Glossy greenish starling with red eyes. Juvenile is brownish above, with streaked white underparts. Disjunct range overlaps with that of very similar Asian Glossy Starling in Java, Bali, central Sulawesi, and Mindanao; note present species’ proportionally shorter tail and bill, as well as its purple-glossed head and green-glossed body (Asian Glossy has green-glossed underparts and green- or blue-glossed back and wings). Inhabits forest and forest edge; unlike Asian Glossy Starling, avoids large urban spaces. Present in lowlands and foothills throughout much of range, but restricted to montane and submontane forest in Mindanao and Java. Gives various scratchy, high-pitched, metallic notes, as well as high descending “seep” notes.