Starlings and Mynas
A comprehensive illustrated guide to the Old World family of birds in the Helm Identification series.
Starlings range from familiar species such as Common Starling and Common Myna, which are closely associated with people and have been introduced to many parts of the world, to little-known forest birds with a very restricted distribution. The family is centred on tropical Asia and tropical Africa, where two separate evolutionary radiations have occurred.
This is the first monograph on the starling family, and summarises the current knowledge of all speices, with a comprehensive bibliography. Information from the avicultural literature is included since for some species nesting and other behaviour have never been observed in the field. Many starlings are highly social, some even nest in colonies, and cooperative breeding ('helpers at the nest') occurs in a number of African species highlights areas where information is lacking, particularly for those starlings whose existence is threatened by habitat destruction.
The Indo-Malayan and Afro-tropical varieties are covered, along with the New World immigrants, and the text together with drawings, maps and photographs show aspects of bird behaviour, distribution and natural history.
Chris Feare has studied birds and their interactions with man for thirty years, and began research on starlings in 1974. He has traveled widely in search of starlings and to study bird pest problems, and currently runs his own consultancy. He is a Visiting Professor at Leeds University. The seed of this book was sown during the writing of his 1984 monograph, The Starling, and the project gained momentum when he and Adrian Craig met by chance while examining starlings in the Natural History Museum at Tring, Hertfordshire.
Adrian Craig started research on African starlings at Rhodes University (South Africa) in 1980. Bishopbirds were the subject of his MSc and PhD theses at, respectively, the University of Cape Town and the University of Natal. He is currently Associate Professor in Zoology at Rhodes University. He has also served on the council of BirdLife South Africa, and edited its journal, Ostrich, for twelve years.