One of only two starlings in the genus Pholia, Sharpe's Starling is rather uncommon and locally distributed. We only saw it once on our trip. Pholia starlings are canopy frugivores of montane regions characterized by very short legs. Males and females are alike. Formerly this species was included in the genus Cinnyricinclus, but changed to Pholia in the 5th edition of Clements. The IOC originally placed it in Pholia, but changed it to Poeoptera in v2.0. Poeoptera are similar to Pholia in their short legs, but Poeptera are sexually dimorphic while Pholia are not.
Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LX5 | Nikon FieldScope III | 30XWA | hand-held (no adapter).