Downs (1946:103) writes that the starling at Tinian is less common than the white-eye, Zosterops conspicillata saypani. Gleize (1945:220) estimated the population of starlings on Tinian at 200. Coultas (field notes) found the starling abundant at Tinian in 1931, but he did not find the bird at Saipan. According to Stott (1947:527), the starling was abundant at Guam but "appeared to be common only locally on Saipan." He saw large flocks at the Marpi Point and Kingman Point areas on Saipan but found the bird less numerous elsewhere on the island. At Rota, the NAMRU2 party found the birds to be numerous and widely distributed over the island in 1945.
At Guam, the present writer observed behavior of the starling on January 31, 1945, which may have been a courtship ceremony. Two adults were perched on a palm frond approximately 20 feet above the ground. The bird which was perched more distally on the frond opened its tail fan-fashion, spread its wings and at irregular intervals picked up in its beak a part of the frond and then released it. As this behavior was taking place, the birds would call in a sweet ascending song, which reminded me very much of the song of the redwing blackbird of North America. This was indeed a contrast to the usual squawking notes of this subspecies.
Aplonis opacus aeneus (Takatsukasa and Yamashina)
Micronesian Starling
Aplornis opaca aenea Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 487. (Type locality, Pagan.)
Aplonis kittlitzi Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 212 (Pagan, Agrigan).
Aplonis opaca harterti Momiyama (part), Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 11 (Pagan, Agrigan); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 71 (Pagan, Agrigan).
Aplornis opaca aenea Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 187 (Asongsong = Asuncion, Agrigan, Pagan, Almagan).
Aplornis opaca aenea Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 44, 1932, p. 221 (Pagan, Almagan).
Aplonis opaca aenea Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 169 (Agrigan, Pagan, Almagan); Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1940, p. 673 (Asongsong).