White-shouldered Starling

White-shouldered Starling (Sturnia sinensis) is a small pale starling with a grey head, whitish body, dark wings and conspicuous white shoulder patches. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in southern China and northern Vietnam, feeds on fruit and insects in open woodland and farmland and migrates to Southeast Asia, sometimes appearing beyond its regular range. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).