Daurian Starling

The Daurian starling is a fairly small bird, 16–19 centimetres long. The adult male is grey to greyish-white on the head, breast and belly. In breeding dress he has a light reddish-brown undertail, a black cap on the head and a black, metallic-glossed mantle. The upperwing and tail are black, sandy and rusty-brown with a metallic sheen like the European starling's. The adult female is less contrasting, coloured in grey, brown and sandy tones. (Swedish Wikipedia, general species account)

It breeds from southeastern Siberia to Ussuriland, northern Mongolia, central Korea and southern Russia and winters in southern China and Southeast Asia. It usually breeds in groves of trees, wooded country or the edges of larger forests, but also in farmland or near villages. It is a very rare visitor to Europe with only two accepted records, in Norway in 1985 and the Netherlands in 2005; other records, such as in Britain, are thought likely to be escaped birds. (Swedish Wikipedia, general species account)