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Body length: 20-22 cm
Body mass: 70-80 g
Appearance:
Adults: black with metallic-iridescent green-purple patches.
Young: uniform dirty brown.
An inhabitant of forests, parks and gardens, where it nests in tree-holes and nestboxes, under eaves and in roof-spaces and vents. Rarely manages more than one brood a year. In late summer forms noisy flocks, acrobatic in flight, that seek out food sources and safe places to spend the night (often reedbeds). Food consists of fruit and insects (including pests), though may itself achieve pest status in southern European vineyards. Mimics calls of other birds like buzzards and curlews. Though traditionally migratory in Poland, it seems more and more inclined to overwinter, especially in urban areas.
Descriptions drawing on content of Ptaki Polski (“Birds of Poland”) - a book authored by Andrzej G. Kruszewicz, and published by MULTICO Oficyna Wydawnicza Sp. z o.o.
