Superb Starling in Amboseli National Park, west of Namanga, Kenya

The Superb Starling (Lamprotornis superbus) is commonly be found in East Africa, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. This species is 18 to 19 cm (7 to 7.5 inches) long. Adults have black heads and iridescent blue-to-green back, upper breast, wings, and tail. The belly is red-orange, separated from the blue breast by a white bar. The undertail coverts and the wing linings are white. Juveniles have duller plumage with no more than a suggestion of the white breast band. Their irises are brown, later grayish white, eventually the adult's cream-color. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Broadcasting Company and traveled to Africa from June 1966 to early August 1966.