Animal · Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom
Common starling
Sturnus vulgaris — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The common starling is a glossy dark bird speckled with pale spots in winter that gathers in huge evening flocks called murmurations. Up close its feathers shine green and purple. It is also one of the best copycats among birds.
Picture credit: Kristian Pikner (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Kristian Pikner (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the common starling live?
Home: towns, farmland and open woodland.
In the wild it lives in these countries: the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Spain, Italy, Russia.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown: about 20 cm long. It weighs about 0.08 kilograms. On the menu: both plants and meat.
The story behind it
Close up a starling is not black at all: its feathers shine green and purple, and in winter they are tipped with pale spots that slowly wear away by spring. Starlings walk rather than hop, poking their bills into the grass and then forcing them open to find grubs. They also eat fruit and seeds, which is why farmers see them in cherry trees. They are among the best mimics in the bird world and copy other species, car alarms and whistles. On winter evenings thousands gather above a reedbed and turn together in a shifting cloud; each bird watches about seven neighbours, and that is enough to make the whole flock swirl as one. Roosts of more than a million birds have been counted. Starlings nest in holes in trees, walls and boxes, and usually lay four or five pale blue eggs.
Find it on the globe
Common starling is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
Why do starlings fly in those huge clouds?
Flying together makes it hard for a falcon to pick out one bird, and the flock also shares warmth and news about feeding places. The shapes appear because each starling copies the birds nearest to it.
Can a starling really copy sounds?
Yes, and a male may hold dozens of song types picked up from other birds and from machines. Some starlings kept by people have learned words, but in the wild they mostly copy whistles and calls.
Are starlings found outside Europe?
They live naturally across Europe and much of Asia, and people released them in North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In those places they spread fast and can crowd out native hole-nesting birds.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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