Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia - Research in Ornithology, 91 (1): 59-60, 2021 DOI: 10.4081/rio.2021.521 Short communication Nesting of the Spotless Starling, Sturnus unicolor, on the island of Favignana (Aegadian Islands, Sicily) Mario Lo Valvo 1 *, Domenico Pieri 2 1 Dipartimento Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, University of Palermo, Via Archiraf, 18, 90123 Palermo, Italia. 2 Dipartimento Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche, Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, University of Palermo, Via Archiraf, 18, 90123 Palermo, Italia. E.mail: dome.pieri89@gmail.com * Corresponding author: mario.lovalvo@unipa.it © 2021 Mario Lo Valvo, Domenico Pieri Received for publication: 6 March 2021 Accepted for publication: 24 March 2021 Online publication: 16 April 2021 Abstract - The presence of the Spotless Starling in Sicily was reported for the frst time at the beginning of the XIX century, although the frst nests for the province of Trapani are reported almost at the end of the XX century. As a breeder, the Spotless Starling remained absent from all the circumsicilian islands until the frst report for the island of Pantelleria, in 2012. In 2020, the nest of Spotless Starling was observed on the island of Favignana, within a hole on an antenna. The couple fed the chicks with Ligia italica crustacean isopod of the family Ligiidae. The nesting on the island of Favignana confrms the continuous expan- sion of the species in Sicily. Key words: Ligia italica, isopod, diet. Riassunto - Nidifcazione dello storno nero, Sturnus unicolor Tem- mink, 1820, sull’isola di Favignana (Isole Egadi, Sicilia). La presenza dello storno nero in Sicilia fu segnalata per la prima volta all’inizio del XIX secolo, anche se le prime nidifcazioni per la provincia di Trapani vengono segnalate quasi alla fne del XX secolo. Come nidifcante lo storno nero rimane assente da tutte le isole minori circumsiciliane fno alla prima segnalazione per l’isola di Pantelleria, avvenuta nel 2012. Nel 2020 è stata accertata la nidifcazione dello storno nero sull’isola di Favignana all’interno di un foro di un’antenna per le telecomunicazioni. La coppia ha alimentato i pulcini anche con Ligia italica crostaceo isopode della famiglia Ligiidae. Questa nuova nidifcazione sull’isola di Favignana conferma la continua espansione dell’areale di questa specie in Sicilia. Parole chiave: Ligia italica, isopodi, alimentazione. The Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor Temmink, 1820) is a monotypic species with Mediterranean distri- bution, mostly sedentary, and its breeding range usually overlaps with its wintering range (Brichetti & Fracasso, 2013). Its geographical distribution includes the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, South France, Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, but formerly also the Balearic Islands (Brichet- ti & Fracasso, 2013). In Sicily, according to Doderlein (1873), Palazzotto was the frst, in 1818, to observe it on the Madonie Mts. and to consider this species as accidental visitor to the island. However, the species was described shortly there- after by Temmink in 1820. This species was believed to be widespread in the southern central part and the southeast of the main is- land (Benoit, 1840), and absent in the Trapani province (Doderlein, 1871; Sorci et al., 1973; Massa, 1985). The rare observations in this province (Steinbacher, 1955, 1956; Burgio, 1977) have been attributed to erratism. The frst nestings, highly localized, around Trapani were in 1985 (Lo Valvo et al., 1993), and their localization expanded in this province in the following years (AA. VV., 2008), eventually colonizing Isola Grande (Surdo et al., 2017). About the small islands around Sicily, reports state that the Spotless Starling does not nest there (Sorci et al., 1973; Massa, 1985). The rare observations on the island of Pantelleria between 1955 (Steinbacher, 1956; Moltoni, 1973) and 2002 (Massa et al., 2015), and sightings prob- ably from the late nineteenth century and reported with doubts by Sommier (1908) based on information obtained from E. H. Giglioli, and the observation in 2009 (Massa et al., 2015) on Lampedusa Island have been attributed to cases of erratism. As a breeding species, the Spotless Starling is absent from the small islands (AA.VV., 2008; Brichetti & Fra- casso, 2013) at least until summer 2012, when Corso et al. (2012) observed two pairs of Spotless Starlings with six juveniles on the island of Pantelleria. On June 18 th , 2020, during a seabird census session on the island of Favignana, a pair of Spotless Starlings was observed while nesting in a hole on an antenna (Fig. 1), adjacent to the lighthouse of Punta Marsala (WGS 1984 - UTM 33N 268354 E 4198775 N). The island is the biggest of the Aegadian Islands, about 7 km from the western coast of Sicily. The site is bordered by a prairie of uncultivated lands to the northeast and the reef of Cala Azzurra to the southwest.