CreatureData

Rusty-winged starling

Aplonis zelandica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)

LCLeast Concernsongbirds

The rusty-winged starling (Aplonis zelandica) is a species in the family Sturnidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh about 68.7 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Rusty-winged starling (Aplonis zelandica)
Photo: Naturalis Biodiversity Center · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the rusty-winged starling

Weight
68.7 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Frugivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the rusty-winged starling live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The rusty-winged starling is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the rusty-winged starling?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The rusty-winged starling (Aplonis zelandica) is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in the Santa Cruz Islands and Vanuatu.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss arising from the deriving force of human overpopulation.

The rusty-winged starling was described by the French zoologists Jean Quoy and Joseph Gaimard in 1832 from a specimen that they erroneously believed had been obtained from Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere in New Zealand. They coined the binomial name, Lamprotornis zelandicus. The rusty-winged starling does not occur in New Zealand and the type locality is now designated as Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands.

From the Wikipedia article “Rusty-winged starling” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rusty-winged_starling&oldid=1379697103), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the rusty-winged starling endangered?

The rusty-winged starling is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the rusty-winged starling classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPasseriformes
  5. familySturnidae
  6. genusAplonis
  7. SpeciesAplonis zelandica (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)

Synonyms Lamprotornis zelandicus

Other names and names in other languages (28)
  • estornell de MelanèsiaCatalan
  • špaček rezavokřídlýCzech
  • drudwen VanuatuWelsh
  • Rustvinget TræstærDanish
  • RostflügelstarGerman
  • rustoflugila sturnoEsperanto
  • Estornino de MelanesiaSpanish
  • vanuatunkottarainenFinnish
  • Stourne mélanésienFrench
  • smeđi čvorakCroatian
  • rozsdásszárnyú énekesseregélyHungarian
  • Storno aliruggineItalian
  • ニューヘブリデスカラスモドキJapanese
  • rudasparnis aplonisLithuanian
  • VanuatupurperspreeuwDutch
  • rustvingestærNorwegian
  • skworczyk rdzawoskrzydłyPolish
  • estorninho-melanésioPortuguese
  • estorninho-ferrugíneoPortuguese
  • Ржавокрылый аплонисRussian
  • Ржавокрылый скворецRussian
  • majna hrdzavokrídlaSlovak
  • rostvingestareSwedish
  • rostvingad stareSwedish
  • Vanuatu SığırcığıTurkish
  • шпак-малюк рудокрилийUkrainian
  • 棕翅輝椋鳥Chinese
  • 棕翅辉椋鸟Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the rusty-winged starling

Other species in the same genus Aplonis.

CompareRusty-winged starling vs Asian glossy starlingRusty-winged starling vs Metallic starlingRusty-winged starling vs Polynesian starlingRusty-winged starling vs Kosrae starling

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the rusty-winged starling?

An adult rusty-winged starling weighs 68.7 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the rusty-winged starling live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the rusty-winged starling for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the rusty-winged starling endangered?

The rusty-winged starling is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the rusty-winged starling?

The rusty-winged starling (Aplonis zelandica) belongs to the family Sturnidae in the order Passeriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

Embed a card for this animal on your own site

Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Rusty-winged starling (Aplonis zelandica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/rusty-winged-starling

MLA

“Rusty-winged starling (Aplonis zelandica).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/rusty-winged-starling.

BibTeX
@misc{rusty_winged_starling_2026,
  title = {Rusty-winged starling (Aplonis zelandica)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/rusty-winged-starling},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}