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The European Starlingby Mike StilesI know. I know. I can hear it now. "An article about the starling?" you ask, the icy contempt dripping from your voice. You mean just because it's an aggressive, invasive, introduced bird, that's out-competing native species for nesting cavities, causes great damages to farm fields, disrupts air travel, and is considered by some to be America's greatest pest? Well, it is all that, but in my (feeble) defense, the starling is here to stay, and it turns out it's quite the intelligent and interesting bird.
In 1890, about 100 starlings were introduced into New York's Central Park, in a misguided attempt to introduce into this country the birds mentioned by William Shakespeare. In the mere 120 years hence, it is estimated that 200 million starlings occupy North America, from coast to coast and from the Mexico border north, approaching the arctic circle. Consequently, every starling on the continent is genetically identical to each other. This start from a genetic "bottleneck" has not seemed to harm the birds so far. Starlings superficially resemble members of the blackbird family, but they are actually close relatives to the mynas. Some of the old world members of the family are strikingly colored in reds and blues and other colors. Because of their familial relations, in addition to their normal chaotic "song" of squawks, chucks, and high-pitched squeals, they are excellent mimics. They can imitate other birds, car alarms, dogs, cats, and birds in captivity can learn to imitate the human voice.
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They have an unusual molt pattern, and will grow new feathers just once a year, in the fall, to obtain the white spots over the entire body. The groups of starlings decimating my suet feeders at this time of year have that look. It is thought that the name starling may derive from the spots, giving the bird a star-studded appearance. In the spring, the white spots are gone from wear (not molt), leaving the underlying glossy greenish/purple sheen, and the bill turns yellow at this time.
Starlings are well adapted to human environments and are said to eat anything . . . insects, spiders, snails, earthworms, seeds, garbage . . . and my aforementioned suet cakes. They have unusually strong muscles that open the jaw, and will push their beak into the ground and open it, exposing foodstuffs underneath, and they have been found to have a sensitive sense of taste. Starlings can not digest sucrose, and can discern the different types of sugars. They often live and roost in large numbers, so they can be quite devastating to a local food supply.
Unlike other members of the family, especially the declining myna populations, the European Starling is doing well, due in part to their varied diet and ability to adapt to a variety of habitats, much to the detriment of native species. These aggressive birds often out-compete our native cavity nesting birds like bluebirds, flycatchers, woodpeckers, and even Wood Ducks. One study from 2003, though, found that while it is true that sapsuckers have suffered from the appearance of the starling, other birds have been found to have the ability to hold their own against the invaders. I would think that the concerted effort to place bluebird houses around the country has helped in that regard.
I will leave you with one last link to a video that's been widely circulated recently. Whatever your feelings are for the starling, it's hard not to consider this "murmuration of starlings" a beautiful sight.
