Common Starling

Alternative name: European Starling

Adult male S. v. vulgaris in summer plumage
Photo by Donald Talbott
Leicestershire, UK, May 2015

Sturnus vulgaris

Identification

Adult female S. v. vulgaris in summer plumage
Photo by Donald Talbott
Leicestershire, UK, April 2017

Length 21–21.5 cm (8¼ in), wingspan 37–42 cm, weight 55–100 g
A medium-sized, blackish, short-tailed songbird, often forming huge flocks. Compact shape, with triangular wings in flight. Wide variation in plumage with age, and some variation with time of year. Both sexes similar, although the female is slightly less glossy than the male, and differences in bill colour in spring.

Adult breeding

• March to August
• Adults glossy-black, males with few or even no spots by mid summer, females with somewhat more, though much individual variation
• Bill yellow; with pale blue-grey base in males, and pale pinkish-yellow base in females

Adult winter S. v. vulgaris
Photo by John King
Dordogne, France, December 2016

Adult non-breeding

• August to March
• Glossed black with a purple and green shine
• Tips of the body feathers have large white or buff spots
• Dark bill
• Red-brown legs
• In late winter, the white spots gradually reduced or lost by feather wear, while the bill turns yellow and the legs turn pink.

Fresh juvenile S. v. vulgaris
Photo by ChrisKten
London, UK; June 2012

Juvenile

• Young birds are dull 'mousy' grey-brown with dark bill and legs
• Moulting juveniles in late summer show a contrasting mixture of fresh adult non-breeding feathers and old juvenile feathers

Similar species

Spotless Starling in southwest Europe and northwest Africa is devoid of spots, but there are structural differences in the throat feathers (long and slender in Spotless, short in Common). Spotless Starlings are always blacker than Common Starlings, including the juveniles.

Distribution

This starling is native to most of Europe and western and central Asia, but in most of the Iberian Peninsula and north Africa only as a winter visitor. A rare winter visitor in eastern Asia, east to southern Japan. Common or abundant in most of its range, but declining due to agricultural intensification particularly in the north of its range; red-listed with severe declines in Britain and most Scandinavian countries. S. v. vulgaris has been introduced to North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand; it has become an invasive pest species in all these areas.

Legend • Native range, year-round • Native range, summer only • Native range, winter only • Introduced, year-round • Introduced, summer only

Juvenile S. v. vulgaris moulting into first winter plumage
Photo by Mali Halls
Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, Sussex, UK, September 2016

Taxonomy

Very closely related to Spotless Starling and has been treated as conspecific with it; hybrids are common where they overlap in northeast Spain. Not very closely related to other starlings, which have now all been transferred to other genera.

Subspecies

Flight profile
Photo by targetman
Worlaby, Lincolnshire, October 2007

This is a polytypic species, with 12^[1] or 13^{[2], [3]} subspecies accepted:

• S. v. granti: Azores
• S. v. vulgaris: most of Europe, from Canary Islands and Iceland to Ural Mountains, northern Ukraine and Balkans
• S. v. faroensis: Faeroes
• S. v. zetlandicus: Shetland Islands
• S. v. tauricus: Eastern and southern Ukraine, Crimea and Asia Minor
• S. v. purpurascens: Western Transcaucasia to Georgia and Armenia
• S. v. caucasicus: Volga Delta and northern Caucasus to Caspian Sea and southern Iran
• S. v. oppenheimi: southeast Turkey and northern Iraq (not considered distinct by Clements^[1])
• S. v. nobilior: Afghanistan, Transcaspia and Khorasan
• S. v. poltaratskyi: Eastern Ural Mountains to Lake Baikal, Kazakstan and western Mongolia
• S. v. porphyronotus: Southern Dzungaria and Tien Shan Mountains to Pamir Mountains and Samarkand
• S. v. humii: Western Himalayas (Kashmir to Garhwal)
• S. v. minor: Locally in western Pakistan (Sind)

The subspecies vary in colour and extent of gloss; S. v. faroensis is also marginally larger and S. v. granti marginally smaller. The southeastern subspecies S. v. porphyronotus, S. v. humii and S. v. minor are darker and completely unspotted in the breeding season.

Habitat

Varied. Can be found in any reasonably open environment from farmland to salt marsh.

Behaviour

Very gregarious out of the breeding season.

Movements

Starlings walk rather than hop. Their flight is quite strong and direct; they look triangular-winged and short-tailed in flight.

Breeding

Nests in thatches, nest boxes, tree holes. An untidy feather-lined nest is constructed from straw, grass or twigs. The clutch consists of 4-5 pale blue, glossy eggs with. They are incubated for around 2 weeks and flegde about 19-22 days later. Timing within an area is closely co-ordinated, with all pairs fledging their young within a day or at most two of each other and with very little variation from year to year; typically on 20 May in central Britain. The flood of juveniles all fledging simultaneously reduces the risks of predation for each individual. There is usually only one brood in the north of the species' range, but if the first clutch fails they will re-lay; second broods are common in the south of the range. Late and second brood young fledge much later and have a lower survival rate than first broods.

Diet

They mainly feed on insect larvae but are opportunist feeders and frequently visit bird tables. They also like autum berries.

Vocalisation

<flashmp3>Sturnus vulgaris (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program

Gallery

Click images to see larger version

• 

  S. v. humii, winter plumage
  Photo by Alok Tewari
  Kangra, Western Himalayas, India, January 2011

• 

  S. v. porphyronotus, winter plumage
  Photo by Alok Tewari
  Basai, Gurgaon, India, January 2017

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2017. IOC World Bird Names (version 7.1). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
3. Del Hoyo, J, A Elliott, and D Christie, eds. 2009. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 14: Bush-shrikes to Old World Sparrows. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8496553507
4. Bird Watching

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Common Starling. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Common_Starling

External Links

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