Violet-backed Starlings (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster) occur in sub-Saharan Africa and on the western side of the Arabian Peninsula. The sexes are dramatically different — males are iridescent purple-blue with a brilliant white belly, and females and juveniles have brown upperparts and brown-streaked white bellies. This male Violet-backed Starling was perched, displaying on a dead branch at Hippo Pools on the Crocodile River in Kruger National Park. (January 16, 2020)

Violet-backed Starlings (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster) occur in sub-Saharan Africa and on the western side of the Arabian Peninsula. The sexes are dramatically different – males are iridescent purple-blue with a brilliant white belly, and females and juveniles have brown upperparts and brown-streaked white bellies. This male Violet-backed Starling was perched, displaying on a dead branch at Hippo Pools on the Crocodile River in Kruger National Park.