European Starling

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Common Starling
Adult Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris, breeding plumage (probably male)
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Sturnidae Genus: Sturnus Species: S. vulgaris
Binomial name
Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758
Native: yellow, breeding summer visitor; dark green, resident breeding; blue, wintering. Introduced: light yellow, breeding summer visitor; light green, resident breeding.

The European Starling, Common Starling or just Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, is a passerine bird in the family Sturnidae.

This species of starling is native to most of temperate Europe and western Asia. It is resident in southern and western Europe and southwestern Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter to these regions, and also further south to areas where it does not breed in Iberia and north Africa. It has also been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, North America, and South Africa.

 Description

Adults and juveniles moulting to winter plumage, late summer

at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India.

It is among the most familiar of birds in temperate regions. It is 19–22 cm long, with a wingspan of 37–42 cm and a weight of 60–90 g. The plumage is shiny black, glossed purple or green, and spangled with white, particularly strongly so in winter. Adult male European Starlings are less spotted below than adult females. The throat feathers are long and loose, and used as a signal in display. Juveniles are grey-brown, and by their first winter resemble adults though often retain some brown juvenile feathering especially on the head in the early part of the winter. The legs are stout, pinkish-red. The bill is narrow conical with a sharp tip; in summer, it is yellow in females, and yellow with a blue-grey base in males, while in winter, and in juveniles, it is black in both sexes. Moulting occurs once a year, in late summer after the breeding season is finished; the fresh feathers are prominently tipped white (breast feathers) or buff (wing and back feathers). The reduction in the spotting in the breeding season is achieved by the white feather tips largely wearing off. Starlings walk rather than hop. Their flight is quite strong and direct; they look triangular-winged and short-tailed in flight.^[1][2]

It is a noisy bird uttering a wide variety of both melodic and mechanical-sounding sounds, including a distinctive "wolf-whistle". Starlings are noted as mimics, like many of its family. In captivity, Starlings will learn to imitate all types of sounds and speech earning them the nickname "poor-man's Myna".

Confusion with other species is only likely in Iberia, the western Mediterranean and northwest Africa in winter, when it has to be distinguished from the closely related Spotless Starling, which, as its name implies, has less spotting on its plumage. The Spotless Starling can also be diagnostically distinguished at close range by its longer throat feathers.^[2] At a more basic level, adult male European Blackbirds can easily be distinguished by more slender body shape, longer tail, and behaviour; they hop instead of walking and do not probe for food with open bills. In flight, only the much paler waxwings share a similar flight profile.

 Systematics

Singing bird showing the long throat feathers

This is the type species of the genus Sturnus. More recently, it is increasingly being accepted that this is not a natural evolutionary group but an evolutionary grade assembling a number of more-or-less distantly related Eurasian starlings which look a bit alike. Uniting such different birds such as European, Vinous-breasted, and Rosy Starlings in one genus has always been controversial, and it is likely the more distinct species will soon be separated again. Ultimately, the European and Spotless starlings, which form a superspecies, might be the only species retained in Sturnus.^[3]

There are several subspecies of the European Starling, mainly distinguishable by geographic range and the iridescence of adult plumage; much of the variation is clinal, with extensive intergradation between the subspecies. Acceptance of different subspecies varies between different authorities.^[1][2][4][5]

• Sturnus vulgaris vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758. Common Starling. Most of Europe, except the far northwest and far southeast; also Iceland and the Canary Islands, where it is a recent colonist. Introduced populations worldwide also belong to this subspecies.

Nominate subspecies. The gloss is green on the head, belly and lower back, bronzy purple on the neck to upper chest and back, and purplish on the flanks and upper wing-coverts. Inconspicuous light buff fringes are present on the under wing-coverts. In eastern parts of range, more purplish and less bronzy gloss.

• Sturnus vulgaris faroensis Feilden, 1872. Faroese Starling; sometimes misspelt faeroensis or faroeensis. Faroe Islands.

Slightly larger than nominate, especially bill and feet. Adult with darker and duller green gloss and far less spotting even in fresh plumage. Juvenile sooty black with whitish chin and areas on belly; throat spotted black.

• Sturnus vulgaris zetlandicus Hartert, 1918. Shetland Starling. Shetland Islands.

Like faroensis but intermediate in size between that and vulgaris. Birds from Fair Isle, St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides are intermediate between this subspecies and the nominate and placement with vulgarisor zetlandicus varies according to authority. Dark juveniles are occasionally found in Scotland and southwards, indicating some gene flow from faroensis or an original polymorphism that became dominant in faroensis.

• Sturnus vulgaris granti Hartert, 1903. Azores Starling. Azores.

Like nominate, but smaller, especially feet. Often strong purple gloss on upperparts.

• Sturnus vulgaris poltaratskyi (Finsch, 1878). Eastern Bashkortostan eastwards through Urals and central Siberia, to Lake Baykal and western Mongolia.

Like nominate, but gloss on head predominantly purple, on back green, on flanks usually purplish-blue, on upper wing-coverts bluish-green. In flight, conspicuous light cinnamon-buff fringes to under wing-coverts and axillaries; these areas may appear very pale in fresh plumage.

• Sturnus vulgaris tauricus Buturlin, 1904. From Crimea and E of Dnieper River eastwards around coast of Black Sea to W Asia Minor, though not in uplands where replaced by purpurascens.

Like nominate, but decidedly long-winged. Gloss of head green, of body bronze-purple, of flanks and upper wing-coverts greenish bronze. Underwing blackish with pale fringes of coverts. Nearly spotless in breeding plumage.

• Sturnus vulgaris purpurascens Gould, 1868. E Turkey to Tbilisi and Lake Sevan, in uplands on E shore of Black sea replacing tauricus.

Like nominate, but wing longer and green gloss restricted to ear-coverts, neck and upper chest. Purple gloss elsewehere except on flanks and upper wing-coverts where more bronzy. Dark underwing with slim white fringes to coverts.

• Sturnus vulgaris caucasicus Lorenz, 1887. Volga Delta through eastern Caucasus and adjacent areas.

Green gloss on head and back, purple gloss on neck and belly, more bluish on upper wing-coverts. Underwing like purpurascens.

• Sturnus vulgaris porphyronotus (Sharpe, 1888). Western Central Asia, grading into poltaratskyi between Dzungarian Alatau and Altai.

Very similar to tauricus but smaller and completely allopatric, being separated by purpurascens, caucasicus and nobilior.

• Sturnus vulgaris nobilior (Hume, 1879). Afghanistan, SE Turkmenistan and adjacent Uzbekistan to E Iran.

Like purpurascens but smaller and wing shorter; ear-coverts glossed purple, and underside and upperwing gloss quite reddish.

• Sturnus vulgaris humii (Brooks, 1876). Kashmir to Nepal.

Small; purple gloss restricted to neck area and sometimes flanks to tail-coverts, otherwise glossed green.

• Sturnus vulgaris minor (Hume, 1873). Sind Starling. Pakistan.

Small; green gloss restricted to head and lower belly and back, otherwise glossed purple.

Several other forms have been named, but are generally no longer considered valid. Most are intergrades from where the ranges of various subspecies meet.^[4]

• S. v. ruthenus Menzbier, 1891 and S. v. jitkowi Buturlin, 1904 are intergrades between vulgaris and poltaratskyi from western Russia.
• S. v. graecus Tschusi, 1905 and S. v. balcanicus Buturlin and Harms, 1909 are intergrades between vulgaris and tauricus from the southern Balkans to central Ukraine (where there is some intergradation with poltaratskyi too) and throughout Greece to the Bosporus.
• S. v. heinrichi Stresemann, 1928 is an intergrade between caucasicus and nobilior in northern Iran.
• S. v. persepolis Ticehurst, 1928 from southern Iran (Fars Province) is very similar to vulgaris; it is not clear whether it is a distinct resident population of simply migrants from southeastern Europe.

 Ecology and behaviour

Part of a pre-roost gathering of Starlings

The Common Starling lives in a variety of habitats and can be found in any reasonably open environment including open woodlands, farmland, and saltmarsh. It is omnivorous, eating a wide variety of invertebrates, fruit, seeds, and also scavenges human food waste and visits bird tables.

It is a highly gregarious species in autumn and winter, forming huge flocks, and providing a spectacular sight and sound as they descend into evening reed-bed roosts, often attracting birds of prey such as Merlins or Sparrowhawks. Flocks are also noted for forming a tight sphere-like formation in flight, frequently expanding and contracting and changing shape, all seemingly without any sort of leader. Very large roosts, exceptionally up to 1.5 million birds, can form in city centres, woodlands, or reedbeds, causing problems with their droppings. These may accumulate up to 30 cm deep, killing trees by their chemical concentration; in smaller amounts, the droppings are however beneficial as a fertiliser, and therefore woodland managers may try to move roosts from one area of a wood to another to spread the benefit and avoid large toxic deposits.^[6]

Huge flocks of more than a million Starlings are observed just before sunset in spring in southwestern Jutland, Denmark. There they gather in March until northern Scandinavian birds leave for their breeding ranges by mid-April. Their flocking creates complex shapes against the sky, a phenomenon known locally as sorta sol ("Black Sun"). To witness this spectacle, the best place are the seaward marshlands (marsken in Danish) of Tønder and Esbjerg municipalities between Tønder and Ribe.^[7]

They are intelligent enough to work together to steal coins from out of a car wash.^[8]

 Relationship with humans

 Status and conservation

Overall, the European Starling is listed by the IUCN as being a species of least concern.^[9] However, it has been adversely affected in northern Europe by intensive agriculture, and in several countries, it has been red-listed due to declines of more than 50%. In the United Kingdom, it declined by more than 80% between 1966 and 2004; although populations in some areas—such as Northern Ireland—are stable or even increasing, those in other areas—mainly in England—declined even more sharply. The overall decline has been attributed to a loss of food-rich permanent pasture, leading to the low survival rates of young birds.^[10] Major declines have also been noted from 1980 onward in Sweden, Finland, northern Russia (Karelia), and the Baltic States, and smaller declines in much of the rest of northern and central Europe.^[1] In contrast, there have been increases in southern Europe, particularly in Italy, southern France, and northeastern Spain where the species first began breeding in the 1960s.^[1]

Earlier, the European Starling had shown marked increases throughout Europe in the period 1800-1900. Before 1800, it had a disjunct range in the British Isles, absent from central and southern Scotland, with S. vulgaris zetlandicus in the far north and northwest (Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Outer Hebrides), and S. vulgaris vulgaris south of the Scottish-English border; it was also rare or regionally absent in Ireland, western Wales and western and northernmost England. Between 1800 and 1900, S. vulgaris vulgaris colonised north and westward from England to Ireland and all of Scotland except for Shetland (where zetlandicus remains present); since 1935, this subspecies has also spread to Iceland, where it now breeds in the southeast and southwest.^[11][1] S. vulgaris vulgaris is also occasionally seen in the Faroes.

 Introduced populations

This adaptable species is considered to be a pest in several of the countries to which it has been introduced. The European Starling is a hole-nesting species and will nest in just about any cavity it finds. It has affected native species where it has been introduced because of competition for nest sites.

Australia

Starlings were introduced into Australia in the late 1800s, and are now abundant in southeastern Australia, from southern Queensland south to Tasmania and west to southeastern South Australia. In Western Australia, the government pays full-time hunters to patrol the border and shoot Starlings as they arrive including undertaking of surveillance, trapping and netting of the birds in the southern coastal regions of the state; despite this, they have recently started breeding in five areas. In the state's 2007-08 Budget, an additional $AUD 4.9 million (2007) was allocated to the control and eradication program.(Government of Western Australia 2007)

New Zealand

In New Zealand, the Starling was introduced in 1862, and now occurs in most of the country.

North America

Although there are approximately 200 million starlings in North America, they are all descendants of approximately 60 birds (or 100 see here) released in 1890 in Central Park, New York, by Eugene Schieffelin who was a member of the Acclimation Society of North America, reputedly trying to introduce to North America every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.^[14]

The descendants of these Starlings have created problems in North America for other bird species, which are losing nesting sites to the more aggressive Starlings. Starlings will also sometimes drive off native birds, including the bluebirds (Sialia spp.), the Purple Martin (Progne subis), Tree Swallows (Iridoprocne bicolor), and some of the smaller species of woodpecker. They have even been observed taking over the nests of House Sparrows, another introduced species^{[citation needed]}. The giant flocks of these birds are often compared to the even more massive flocks of the now-vanished passenger pigeon, and they may indeed fill a similar niche. A century after their introduction they have contributed to the decline of all of the above, multiplying rapidly, and can now be found throughout North America to the point of overpopulation.

These birds pose enough of a threat to other songbirds that it is legal to kill Starlings at any time in the U.S. and Canada, and a bounty may be paid.^{[citation needed]} As an introduced species, European Starlings are not protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.^[15] It is also a common practice where possible to set up nest boxes in backyards and wooded areas for native species to give them a chance, and to destroy European Starling nests. In some cities birds of prey such as the Peregrine Falcon have been introduced or allowed to nest in built-up areas to help control the starling population.

South Africa

In South Africa, the Starling was introduced in 1890, and is now common in the southern Cape region, and less common north to the Johannesburg area.

 Cultural references

• In Welsh Mythology Branwen tamed a starling and sent it across the Irish Sea with a message to her brother Bran, who sailed from Wales to Ireland to rescue her with his brother, Manawydan.
• The starling's ability to mimic human speech earned the bird this cameo in William Shakespeare's Henry IV:

The king forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer. But I will find him when he is asleep, and in his ear I'll holler 'Mortimer!' Nay I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer, and give it to him to keep his anger still in motion.

 References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Sturnus vulgaris

Gallery

Winter plumage	A flock of Starlings gather at sunset to roost.	Starlings perching on telegraph lines at dusk	Juvenile
Juvenile, upperparts	Eggs in nest	Nest in BBQ gas grill	Nest in a stump about a metre tall, on an exposed ridge in a field in southeastern Australia
Starling nest in the stump	Clutch found in stump

 External links

• ARKive - images and movies of the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
• RSPB
• BBC
• Cornell University
• BBC dawn chorus Sample of the starling's song
• European Starling videos on the Internet Bird Collection