European Starling

Sturnus vulgarisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Starling (Sturnidae)

General

European Starling: Small, chunky, iridescent purple and green blackbird with long, pointed yellow bill, pink legs, and short tail. Feathers on back and undertail show buff edges. Sexes are similar. Winter adult is black with white spots and dark bill. Juvenile is uniformly dull gray-brown with dark bill. Introduced from Europe.

Range and Habitat

European Starling: Native to Eurasia, but widely introduced worldwide. Occurs from Alaska and Quebec south throughout the continent to the Gulf coast and northern Mexico. Preferred habitats include cities, suburban areas, farmlands, and ranches.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"pheeEW"

Interesting Facts

All of the 200 million European Starlings found in North America today are descendants of approximately 100 birds released in New York City's Central Park in the early 1890s by an industrialist who wanted to establish, in the U.S., all birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare.

They compete aggressively for nesting sites and may evict the occupants of desired holes, including the woodpeckers that excavated them.

An individual bird can mimic up to 20 species, including Eastern Wood Pewee, Killdeer, and Meadowlark songs.

A group of starlings has many collective nouns, including a "constellation", "filth", "murmuration", "scourge", and "vulgarity" of starlings.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

European Starling

European Starling: Small, chunky, iridescent purple and green blackbird with long, pointed yellow bill, pink legs, and short tail. The feathers on back and undertail show buff edges. Feeds in open areas, normally on the ground. Strong, direct and swift flight on rapidly beating wings.

● Song: "pheeEW"

● Foraging & Feeding: European Starling: Eats seeds, insects, small vertebrates, centipedes, spiders, earthworms, plants, and fruits; commonly takes food discarded by humans.

● Breeding & nesting: European Starling: Four to eight pale blue or green eggs, sometimes marked with brown, are laid in a nest made of twigs, grass, forbs, straw, and trash. Nest is lined built in a natural hollow of a tree, bird box, building crevice, or abandoned woodpecker hole. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days.

● Similar species: European Starling: Blackbirds, cowbirds and grackles have longer tails, slimmer bodies, dark bills, and lack white spots on head and body.

Flight Pattern

Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.

European Starling Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: European Starling: Native to Eurasia, but widely introduced worldwide. Occurs from Alaska and Quebec south throughout the continent to the Gulf coast and northern Mexico. Preferred habitats include cities, suburban areas, farmlands, and ranches.

^BreedingMonogamous, Loose colonies

^Population

^MigrationNorthern birds migrate

^Weight3 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America