White-cheeked starling
Amazing fact
The white-cheeked starling makes a variety of calls, such as “kyuru-kyuru” and “jeh”.
日本野鳥の会 BIRD FAN
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The white-cheeked starling makes a variety of calls, such as “kyuru-kyuru” and “jeh”.
THE REAL WORLD
The real White-cheeked starling
- Scientific name
- Spodiopsar cineraceus
- Japanese name
- ムクドリ
- Group
- Birds
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Sturnidae
- Genus
- Spodiopsar
A bird common in places shaped by people, such as farmland and towns. In winter it forms big roosts and moves in flocks at dawn and dusk.
Its bill and legs are orange and its cheeks are white. In flight, its white rump stands out.
It eats both animals, such as insects, frogs and earthworms, and plant fruits.
How the White-cheeked starling lives
It often eats fruit in spring and summer and tree nuts or berries in autumn and winter. It gathers to roost in places such as bamboo grass thickets and roadside trees. It builds a nest of twigs and feathers in a hole in a tree.
環境省 生物多様性センターTAKAO 599 MUSEUMBasic data
- Size
- Total length: 24 cmWingspan: 40 cm日本野鳥の会 BIRD FAN
- Diet
- Insects, frogs, earthworms and other animals, and plant fruit国土交通省 山国川河川事務所
- Range
- Kyushu and areas to the north日本野鳥の会 BIRD FAN
Where the White-cheeked starling has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ムクドリ
- 简体中文
- 灰椋鸟
- 繁體中文
- 灰椋鳥
- 한국어
- 찌르레기
- Español
- Estornino Gris
- Français
- Étourneau gris
- Deutsch
- Weißwangenstar
- Português (Brasil)
- Estorninho-de-faces-brancas
- Italiano
- Storno guancebianche
- العربية
- زرزور أبيض الوجنتين
- Tiếng Việt
- Sturnus cineraceus
- Русский
- Серый скворец
- Türkçe
- Ak yanaklı sığırcık
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 日本野鳥の会 BIRD FAN — ムクドリChecked: 2026-11-03
- 国土交通省 山国川河川事務所 — 山国川の鳥図鑑 ムクドリChecked: 2026-11-03
- 環境省 生物多様性センター — ムクドリChecked: 2026-11-05
- TAKAO 599 MUSEUM — Spodiopsar cineraceus (Grey Starling)Checked: 2026-11-05
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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