European Starlings

George Walter portrait

Photo by Jill Severn

“They’re a bunch of sky-rats!” That’s the instant insult of many birders who love to hate the European Starling, one of our common Thurston County birds. I’d like to offer a fuller picture of this bird and its many remarkable attributes.

If you look closely, they’re pretty. Yes, it is difficult to focus on a single starling in a flock – but give it a try. Both male and female adults are iridescent black with green and purple tones and have striking yellow bills. They are about robin-sized. The juveniles are a dull brown. In winter their feathers have a speckled appearance, masking the iridescence, and the bill is not as boldly yellow. In flight, their triangular-shaped wings are distinctive from other black birds of similar size.

Even in Europe, where this species is known as the Common Starling, it does not have a particularly good reputation. Its taxonomic name, Sturnus vulgaris, tells us that even the famous Linnaeus, writing in 1758, thought this bird species was a low-status commoner. And common is certainly an understatement, as the world population of this species is estimated at about 400 million.

Starling flock landing in tree in winter

As is widely known, starlings were brought to North America on purpose (!!) by multiple idiots in the mid and late 19^th century. Most of these attempts failed, but the 1890 introduction of about 60 birds into Central Park, New York City, was spectacularly successful, with the result that we now have some 150 million starlings spread from southern Canada south into Central America. (To be fair about credit, apparently there was also an introduction into Portland, Oregon that might have contributed to this invasion). 

In the Americas we use “sky-rats” and other pejorative terms because these birds have harmed many native birds. Starlings are a cavity-nesting species, and they compete aggressively with native cavity-nesters, sometimes killing them in the process. That bright yellow bill the starling sports can be a lethal weapon.

Another negative impact combines their breeding success with their tendency post-breeding to gather in large flocks and invade farmland. They are known to invade fruit and berry crops and do damage very quickly.

And when one of these flocks settles into an urban neighborhood it can be both messy and noisy. And on occasion, even a small flock can quickly empty a bird feeder.

But there is a plus side for people with lawns: Starlings are primarily insect eaters, so when they are pacing about on your lawn, they are likely listening for cranefly larvae, and will eat them, thus sparing your lawn from the bare patches crane flies can cause.

Starlings are also great vocal mimics. They do have their own song, but often what you hear on their nesting territory is a variety of chirps and chatters, and sometimes complete songs, taken from other species. For two years I was looking for the California Quail flock that I would hear near my house; eventually I figured out that “chi-ca’-go” call I was hearing was coming from starlings, not quail.

Because they are non-native, people can legally keep starlings as pets. Some have taught them to talk, and on YouTube you can find video a starling clearly saying, “European starling.” I will leave you with your own internet investigations; starlings are not parrots, but they can learn to speak and to sing various pop songs as well.

Starling in grass, you can really see the iridescence of its feathers

Probably the most amazing thing about starlings, however, is the flight patterns of their large flocks. During flight they vocalize, and because of this, the flock of starlings is called a murmuration.

To fully appreciate these flights, take a look as this mesmerizing murmuration on YouTube:

Although this video is from Europe, starlings in North America also gather in similar huge flocks during winter, especially in coastal places. In Thurston County, we have much smaller post-breeding flocks, usually several hundred at most, but they still wheel around in similar patterns, most often when they sense a possible avian predator – a falcon, for example. How do they do it?

Ornithologists, primarily from Europe, have studied this flock phenomenon and found it near-unique in the natural world. Hundreds and even thousands of birds move in unison, with no leader, a phenomenon called a scale-free correlation. Each bird is able to immediately respond to its neighboring bird, and it changes speed and direction instantly. Further studies using slow-motion filming suggest that each bird is responding to its immediate seven neighbors. By this means, when a bird on the edge sees a falcon and responds, that information in flight dynamics transmits across the entire flock simultaneously.

Now, watch that mesmerizing murmuration video again. Aren’t those sky-rats amazing? They perform a large-scale aerial ballet that far surpasses anything mere humans could choreograph.

George Walter is environmental program manager at the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s natural resources department; he also has a 45+ year interest in bird watching. He may be reached at george@theJOLTnews.com

Photos for Thurston’s Birds columns are provided by Liam Hutcheson, a 17-year-old Olympia area birder and avid photographer.