Startled by a starling leads to a special moment
Photo by DON BARTLING Mother European Starling with a worm. First brought to North America in the 19th century, European Starlings are now among the continent’s most numerous songbirds.
Photo by DON BARTLING Which one should I feed?
Photo by DON BARTLING Mother Starling with two of her three babies below here in the tree hole.
Photo by DON BARTLING Hey Mom, over here!
Last week I was driving on a gravel road by Myrtle creek when I noticed a 12 foot tall old tree stump or snag. It had been dead for years and had several round holes visible, seemingly the size to fit a bird. I started to study the tree when on the northwest side I saw two small yellow beaks and then two heads and soon another head trying to peek out. Just when I realized there were three young birds waiting for their mother to feed them the mother showed up, landed on the top of the old wooden tree and gave me a scolding. I was startled by her aggressive action. I was impressed with her shiny purple black feathers, long and pointed yellow bill and short tail. However, I quickly reviewed my “Birds of Idaho” book to discover that she was a European Starling. I was startled by a Starling!
The mother left the site when she was convinced that I was no threat. The three baby starlings were chirping with their mouths desperately wide open when they saw her leave. She returned in minutes to feed the hungry and impatient babies. They were fed one at a time and competed fiercely for the one worm in her bill. However she did keep track of the sequence of the feeding process and made sure each of her young birds only got their share of one worm. After feeding each of the three babies in three trips she disappeared for a needed rest and the baby starlings quietly slipped back into the safety of their tree nesting hole and took a nap.
Starlings often nest in holes, which offer one of the safest environments to lay eggs because they are generally inaccessible to predators. But there aren’t that many holes out there so the competition is intense. And European Starlings are really good competitors. They are smaller birds about half the size of a fist, but their weight is half as much again relative to other birds and most of it is muscle. The added muscle is a big advantage for the European Starling, because they can out-compete most of the other hole-nesting birds.
ORIGIN
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. Though they’re sometimes resented for their abundance and aggressiveness, they’re still dazzling birds when you get a good look. Covered in white spots during winter, they turn dark and glossy in summer.
All the European Starlings in North America descended from 100 birds set loose in New York’s Central Park in the early 1890’s. The birds were intentionally released by a group who wanted America to have all the birds that Shakespeare ever mentioned.
It took several tries but eventually the population took off. Today, more than 200 million European Starlings range from Alaska to Mexico, and many people consider them pests.
FOOD
Starlings will eat nearly anything, but they focus on insects and other invertebrates when they’re available. Common prey includes grasshoppers, beetles, flies, caterpillars, snails, earthworms, millipedes, and spiders. They also eat fruits including wild cultivated cherries, holly berries, hackberries, mulberries, sumac, and blackberries; as well as grains, seeds nectar, livestock feed, and garbage.
NESTING
Males choose the nest site and use it to attract females. The nests are virtually always in a cavity. Male starlings begin building the nest before mating takes place, filling the cavity with grass and pine needles, along with feathers, trash, cloth, and string.
There’s a depression near the back of the cavity where the cup is built and lined with feathers, fine bark, leaves, and grass. Females oversee the final arrangements and may discard some of the material the male added. Starlings also add fresh green plants to the nest throughout the nesting period, particularly during laying and incubation. Nests can be built in as little as 1-3 days. Both sexes incubate the eggs.
The clutch size is 3-6 eggs with each pair of starling capable of having 1 or 2 broods per year. The egg length is 1 to 1.3 inches and about .8 inches wide. The incubation period is generally 12 days with the nesting period averaging 21-23 days.
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