Pale-bellied Myna

The pale-bellied myna has a grey back and ashy-grey breast that becomes buff-grey on the belly and white at the vent. The crown and cheeks are black, as are the wings and tail, which carry contrasting white bars. Its bill is amber and the legs and feet are yellow; immature birds are browner. The species is endemic to southwestern Sulawesi south of Rantepao, although an introduced population occurs around Tawau in Sabah (Craig 2010, reported in Wikipedia).

It uses open country including rice fields, villages and cultivated ground from the lowlands to about 1,500 m. Birds eat insects and fruit and commonly forage on the ground among cattle, alone, in pairs or in small groups. Nests are placed in tree holes, but the source opened gives no clutch or incubation period. The alternative name white-vented myna is best avoided because it has also been applied to the Javan myna, causing repeated confusion between the two species (BirdForum account citing Handbook of the Birds of the World).