A Red-winged Starling morning

We had to go and refill our empty gas bottle and, on the way back, we stopped at a traffic light. It was not the first time that I saw the starlings flying into a palm tree on the opposite side of the traffic lights, and so, today I decided to stop and to investigate. A high old pine tree stood near the palm tree, and the starlings used it as a launch pad to reach the lower hanging branches loaded with old fruits of the palm tree.

Let's see what Wikipedia has to say about the starlings.

The red-winged starling (Onychognathus morio) is a bird of the starling family Sturnidae native to eastern and southern Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa. An omnivorous, generalist species, it prefers cliffs and mountainous areas for nesting, and has moved into cities and towns due to similarity to its original habitat.The range runs down eastern Africa from Ethiopia to the Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in South Africa.

This species has a wide habitat tolerance. It may be found in forest, savannah, grassland, wetlands, fynbos, farmlands and commercial plantations, as well as urban centres. It is now common in many urban areas, due to the similarity between the structure of tall buildings and houses as nest sites with the cliffs of its original habitat. It may also nest in residential areas, breeding in roofs and apertures and up house eaves.