Starling

The common starling (Sturnus vulgaris), often known simply as the starling in the United Kingdom and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the Sturnidae family. It measures around 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen that is mottled with white at certain periods of the year. Starlings are tiny to medium-sized passerine birds of the Sturnidae family. 

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"Sturnidae" is derived from the Latin word for starling, Sturnus. Because of their iridescent plumage, several Asian species, particularly the bigger ones, are known as mynas, while many African species are known as glossy starlings. 

Starlings are native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the tropical Pacific islands. Several European and Asian species have been brought to these locations, as well as North America, Hawaii, and New Zealand, where they compete for habitat with local birds and are deemed invasive. The common starling is recognizable to most people in Europe and North America, while the common myna is prevalent over most of Asia and the Pacific.

Starling birds have powerful feet, a strong and straight flight, and they are highly sociable. They like open land as their habitat, and they consume insects and fruit. Several animals dwell near human settlements and are basically omnivores. Many species hunt for food such as grubs by "open-bill probing," which involves forcing the bill open after inserting it into a fissure, therefore enlarging the hole and exposing the prey; this behaviour is referred to by the German word zirkeln. Many species have black plumage with a metallic shine. The majority of species build their nests in holes and lay blue or white eggs. Starlings have a wide range of vocalizations and have been seen embedding noises from their environments, such as vehicle alarms and human speech patterns, into their own cries. The birds' cries may be used to identify specific individuals and are being studied to learn more about the origins of human language.

Taxonomical Classification

• Kingdom: Animalia

• Phylum: Chordata

• Class: Aves

• Order: Passeriformes

• Suborder: Passeri

• Family: Sturnidae

Characteristics of Starling

Starling birds are little passerines.  Kenrick's starling (Poeoptera kenricki) has the smallest body length at 15 cm (6 in), whereas Abbott's starling (Poeoptera femoralis) has the lightest weight at 34 g (1+114 ounce). According to conventional dimensions and perhaps weight, the Nias hill myna is the biggest starling (Gracula robusta). This species may grow to be 36 cm (14 in) tall and weigh up to 400 g when domesticated (14 oz). The mynas of the genus Mino, particularly the yellow-faced (M. dumontii) and long-tailed mynas, are big, if not as enormous as the preceding species (M. kreffti).

The white-necked myna (Streptocitta albicollis) is the longest species in the family, measuring up to 50 cm (19+12 in), however, its unusually long tail accounts for 60 percent of its length. However, there is less sexual dimorphism in plumage, with just 25 species displaying such variations between the sexes.

Iridescence causes the starling's plumage to be brilliantly coloured; this colour is generated from the structure of the feathers, not from any pigment. Some Asian starling species have crests or erectile feathers on the crest. Elongated tail feathers and vividly coloured exposed parts on the face are also ornamented.

Habit

Starlings live in a variety of environments, from the Arctic Circle to the Equator. In fact, the only environment they don't usually inhabit is the driest sandy deserts. The family is naturally missing from the Americas and much of Australia, but it is found throughout much of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Aplonis has also expanded far over the Pacific islands, reaching Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia (in addition one species in the genus Mino has reached the Solomon Islands). A species of this genus is also the only starling found in northern Australia.

Asian species are most abundant in evergreen forests; 39 species are primarily forest birds in Asia, compared to 24 in more open or human-modified habitats. African species, on the other hand, are more likely to be found in open woodlands and savannah; 33 species are open area specialists vs 13 genuine forest species. The European starling is exceptionally widespread and catholic in its habitat, inhabiting almost every form of open environment. It, like many other starling species, has easily adapted to the human-modified environment, including farms, orchards, plantations, and urban areas. Some starlings migrate fully, such as Shelley's starling, which breeds in Ethiopia and Somaliland and migrates to Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia, or partially, such as the white-shouldered starling, which migrates in some areas but is resident in others.

The American Acclimatization Society, an organization committed to bringing European flora and fauna into North America for cultural and commercial purposes, intentionally brought the European starling to North America in 1890–1891. The chairman at the time, Eugene Schieffelin, supposedly decided that all birds named by William Shakespeare should be found in North America.

Behaviour

The starlings are a very sociable bunch. Throughout the year, most species form flocks of different sizes. Murmuration refers to starling flocking, which includes the swarm behaviour of their enormous flying formations. Other species of starlings, as well as species from other families, may be found in these flocks. This sociality is most visible in their roosting behaviour; during the non-breeding season, some roosts might include thousands of birds.

Starlings copy a wide range of bird species, with a repertory of around 15–20 different impersonations. They also replicate a few other noises than those of wild birds. Calls of numerous species or those with simple frequency structures and minimal amplitude modulation are preferentially copied. Local dialects of imitated sounds exist.

What is a Starlings’s Feeding Habits?

The common starling is primarily an insectivore, feeding on both pests and other arthropods. Spiders, crane flies, moths, mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, earwigs, lacewings, caddisflies, flies, beetles, sawflies, bees, wasps, and ants are among the food sources. Common starlings will eat earthworms, snails, tiny amphibians, and lizards during both the adult and larval phases of development. While invertebrates are required for effective reproduction, common starlings are omnivorous and will eat grains, seeds, fruits, nectar, and food waste if given the opportunity.

The Sturnidae are distinct from most birds in that they cannot readily digest meals rich in sucrose, yet they can handle other fruits such as grapes and cherries. The eggs of the endangered roseate tern are eaten by an isolated Azores subspecies of the common starling. Culling is being used to lower common starling numbers before the terns return to their nesting colonies in the spring.

Common starlings feed in a variety of ways, but for the most part, they forage near to the ground, collecting insects off the surface or just under it. Common starlings enjoy foraging amid short-cropped grasses and eating alongside grazing animals or perching on their backs, where they will also feed on the external parasites of the mammal. Large flocks may participate in "roller-feeding," in which the birds in the back of the flock repeatedly fly to the front of the flock where the feeding chances are highest. When foraging, the larger the flock, the closer individuals are to one another. Flocks frequently eat in one location for a period of time before returning to previously successfully foraged areas.

The common starling exhibits three forms of foraging behaviour. "Probing" includes the bird randomly and repetitively plunging its beak into the ground until an insect is located, and is frequently followed by bill gaping, in which the bird exposes its mouth in the dirt to widen a hole. This behaviour, initially reported by Konrad Lorenz and dubbed zirkeln in German, is also utilized to develop and enlarge holes in plastic waste bags. It takes time for juvenile common starlings to learn this method, and as a result, their diets frequently contain fewer insects.

"Hawking" is the direct capture of flying insects from the air, whereas "lunging" is the less common technique of striking forward to grab a moving invertebrate on the ground. Earthworms are captured by dragging them out of the soil. Common starlings that go without food for an extended length of time or have a reduction in the number of hours of light available for eating compensate by increasing their body bulk through deposition of fat. Unpaired males find a suitable cavity and start building nests to attract single ladies, typically adorning the nest with decorations such as flowers and fresh green material, which the female subsequently disassembles after accepting him as a mate.

The amount of green material is unimportant as long as there is some, but the presence of herbs in the ornamental material appears to be crucial in enticing a mate. The fragrance of plants like yarrow attracts females through olfactory cues.

The males sing during the building process, but especially when a female approaches his nest.

The male and female continue to build the nest after copulation. Nests can be found in any sort of hole, although the most prevalent are within hollowed trees, buildings, tree stumps, and man-made nest-boxes. S. V. zetlandicus generally nests in rock cracks and holes, a habitat used relatively infrequently by the nominate variety. Nests are generally constructed of straw, dry grass, and twigs, with an interior lining of feathers, wool, and soft leaves. Construction typically takes four to five days and may extend into incubation.

Relationship With Humans

Common starlings are considered helpful in northern Eurasia because they consume insect pests such as wireworms, and this was one of the justifications cited for spreading the birds abroad. In the former Soviet Union, over 25 million nest boxes were built for this species, and common starlings were shown to be efficient in reducing the grass grub Costelytra zealandica in New Zealand.

The original Australian introduction was facilitated by the provision of nest boxes to help this primarily insectivorous bird breed successfully, and even in the United States, where this is a pest species, the Department of Agriculture acknowledges that common starlings consume vast numbers of insects. Common starlings brought to places where other members of the genus are absent, such as Australia or North America, may have an impact on local species through competition for nest holes. Chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, purple martins, and other swallows may be impacted in North America.

Crimson and eastern rosellas are rivals for breeding locations in Australia. The common starling has been included in the IUCN List of the World's 100 Worst Invasive Species for its role in the extinction of native species and agricultural harm.

European, or common, starlings are habitat generalists, which means they may use a wide range of habitats, nesting locations, and food sources. This, along with the fact that they are lowland birds that get along well with humans, allows them to prey on other local species, notably woodpeckers. European starlings are aggressive omnivores with an open bill probing method that offers them an evolutionary edge over frugivorous birds. In terms of food, their aggressive and gregarious behaviour helps them to outcompete local species. Common starlings are also vigorous in their nest cavity construction.

Fun Facts

1. The once-abundant starling has experienced a severe population drop in recent years, and it is now red-listed as a bird of conservation concern.

2. Despite the population decline, the UK still has over 800,000 breeding pairs of starlings.

3. In the winter, our local starling population is supplemented by a large inflow of birds from the continent: as many as 37 million starlings were estimated to winter in the UK in the late twentieth century, but that figure is now much lower.

4. Starlings are among the most sociable of birds, and this is most evident in the winter when they forage in large groups and roost communally.

5. Winter roosts can house anything from a few thousand to millions of birds.

6. Winter roosts may attract birds from as far away as 20 kilometres, and in the late afternoon, groups can be observed headed for their roost, inevitably drawing more birds who join them along the way.

7. Before retiring to roost, starlings perform remarkable synchronized acrobatics - when hundreds of birds participate, these aerial shows are spectacular to see.

8. With so many birds congregating in one place, roosts usually get contaminated with droppings, causing the birds to quit the location and migrate elsewhere.