Smaller than blackbirds, with a short tail, pointed head, triangular wings, starlings look black at a distance but when seen closer they are very glossy with a sheen of purples and greens. Their flight is fast and direct and they walk and run confidently on the ground. Noisy and gregarious, starlings spend a lot of the year in flocks. Still one of the commonest of garden birds, its decline elsewhere makes it a Red List species.
Key ID Features:
Summer adults have narrow, sharp yellow bill, with whitish or blue-grey base and feathers of a metallic sheen of irridescent greens and purples.
Winter birds have dark bill and plumage portraying varyingly amounts of yellow and white spots on upper and lower parts respectively, especially as feathers become worn in winter.
Juveniles are generally all over brown, developing darker spotty plumage on the wings and breast in the 1st winter.
Short tail and pointed wings give a dart like impression during the fast undulating flight.
Despite massive decline they are still renowned for their 'murmurations', spectacular displays of co-ordinated aerobatic clouds in vast numbers in autumn and winter before evening roosts.
Overview
Scientific name: Sturnus vulgaris.
Family: Starlings (Sturnidae)
Where to see them:
Conspicuous and widespread in the UK, occurring everywhere except for the highest parts of the Scottish Highlands. They are most abundant in southern England and are more thinly distributed in upland areas with moorland. Still one of the UK's commonest garden birds. Huge roosts are found in plantations, reed beds and city centres.
Seen in UK:
All year round. Large numbers arrive in autumn to spend the winter here.
What they eat
Insects and fruit.
Text (c) RSPB, used with permission
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Photographer: Tim Tapley
