Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Aggressive European Starling

By: Tom Berg

European starlings are one of many non-native bird species that can be found just about everywhere in America, and they range throughout much of Canada, too.  They were introduced into the United States from Europe in the 1890s, and today there are more than 200 million starlings in North America.

Starlings are a dark bird when viewed from afar, looking almost completely black.  But when seen up close, they are actually very beautiful.  Their feathers have a bluish-green iridescent sheen during the summer, and in the fall and early winter their feathers are tipped with white, making them look spotted.  Their tail is short and their beak is long and slender.

Since they are not native to the USA, European starlings are considered a pest by most people.  This thought is reinforced by the fact that they are noisy and very aggressive, and often travel in large flocks.  They are well-known for mobbing back yard bird feeders and driving away other birds, including native species.  In fact, large groups of starlings can quickly empty bird feeders, eating every last seed and entire cakes of suet before moving on.

Starlings are at home almost everywhere, and especially around people and towns.  They prefer areas with vegetation that is cropped close to the ground, like grassy neighborhood lawns.  They walk through the grass slowly, looking for insects and invertebrates.  Worms, caterpillars, beetles, moths and spiders are eaten regularly during the summer.  In the winter they switch to grains, small fruits and even garbage.

Surprisingly, European starlings are quite talented when it comes to mimicking the calls of other birds.  They have been known to mimic the northern bobwhite, American robins, the wood thrush and even red-tailed hawks (among others).  When traveling with large groups of other blackbirds and grackles, though, they all just seem to make a lot of noise.

One other reason that most people consider starlings to be pests is because these birds often harass native birds and even drive them from their nests.  Once they drive those birds off, the starlings are quite happy use those nesting sites for themselves.  Talk about invasive!

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