STARLINGS
Biology
First brought to North America by Shakespeare enthusiasts in the nineteenth century, European Starlings are now among the continent’s most numerous songbirds. They are stocky black birds with short tails, triangular wings, and long, pointed bills. These birds are notorious for their abundance and aggressiveness. Covered in white spots during winter, they turn dark and glossy in summer.
Breeding takes place during the spring and summer. Following mating, the female lays eggs on a daily basis over a period of several days. If an egg is lost during this time, she will lay another to replace it. There are normally four or five eggs that are oval in shape and pale blue or occasionally white, and they commonly have a glossy appearance. Incubation lasts thirteen days, although the last egg laid may take 24 hours longer than the first to hatch. Both parents share the responsibility of caring for the eggs, but the female spends more time incubating them than does the male, and is the only parent to do so at night when the male returns to the nest. The young are born blind and without feathers. They develop light fluffy down within seven days of hatching and can see within nine days. Once the chicks are able to regulate their body temperature, about six days after hatching, the adults stop removing droppings from the nest.
The average life span is about 2–3 years
Feeding Preferences
The common starling is largely insectivorous and feeds on both pest and other arthropods. The food range includes spiders, crane flies, moths, mayflies, dragonflies, damsel flies, grasshoppers, earwigs, lacewings,
caddisflies, flies, beetles, sawflies, bees,
wasps and ants.
Common starlings can eat and damage fruit in orchards such as grapes, peaches, olives, currants and tomatoes or dig up newly planted crops.
Transmitted Diseases
Starlings droppings can contain the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, the cause of histoplasmosis in humans. At nesting sites, this fungus can thrive in accumulated droppings. There are a number of other infectious diseases that can potentially be transmitted by common starlings to humans.
Habits
Males choose the nest site and use it to attract females. The nests are always in a cavity, typically in a building or other structure. Nests can be built in as little as 1-3 days.
Starlings signal agitation by flicking their wings, or by staring at their opponents while standing erect, fluffing their feathers, and raising the feathers of the head.
Starlings are strong fliers that can get up to speeds of 48 mph.
Starlings are great vocal mimics: these birds can learn the calls of up to 20 different species. Birds whose songs starlings copy include the Eastern Wood-Pewee, Killdeer, Meadowlarks, Northern Bobwhite, Wood Thrush, Red-tailed Hawk, American Robin, Northern Flicker, and many others.
Starling Removal
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