Common Starling - description, habitat, interesting facts

The common starling is one of the most unusual birds belonging to the order of passerine. Zoologists called them so because of singing, as it can be traced "skvork". Birds are easily able to adapt to any weather conditions. They also have an unpretentiousness to food, due to which over the past half century, their population has almost doubled. In different habitats of birds are classified into several species of ordinary starling with small differences, but mostly they differ little.

Appearance of a starling

The structure of the skeleton and the number of feathers on the body strongly resembles the appearance of a blackbird, but the starlings are much smaller and the way of movement is different (the starlings just walk, like pigeons, and the blackbirds jump like most of the sparrow squad).The length of the body of an adult bird ranges from 18 to 22 centimeters, and weight - 50-80 grams. The wings are in the shape of a birch leaf, that is, broad at the beginning, and much narrower at the end. The younger the starling, the rounder their shape. The tail reaches a length of up to 7 centimeters, and the legs of a bright brick color. Wingspan reaches forty centimeters.

The differences between the appearance of the female and male in the length of feathers on the chest and the presence of spots: in females feathers are shorter and there is no bluish spot at the beginning of the beak. Instead of a blue spot, they have small red dots. In birds of both sexes, the beak is of the same length, sharpness and slight curvature.

The color of feathers in all individuals is bluish-black with a special brilliance, in different species it can be cast either with ocher, or eggplant, or malachite, or cornflower blue. With the onset of cooling, the plumage changes slightly and becomes covered with whitish spots, which are most of all on the wings and breast. This color remains all winter, but with the onset of spring, when it comes time to change the feathers, it becomes dark brown.

How do starlings breed and breed?

Before the onset of the mating season, the birds are separated in pairs. If they are not old enough, they create nests, but do not lay eggs, but leave as a permanent place to spend the night.

The male is searching for a place, choosing the most spacious nest, or taking the place of falcons or eagles. After that, he begins to whistle, thereby "calling" the females. The birds ready for nesting create the most comfortable places for laying eggs. For their construction, they use holes in the trunks of trees, mountain gorges. If starlings live in the city, they choose the space under the roofs of houses as a “dwelling”. The nightingale's nest resembles a cup and is built from dried leaves, twigs and tree bark by both birds.

For greater softness, the inner surface of the bird is covered with moss, feather feathers, and grass. The female plants one egg every day and tries to hatch them as much as possible. After the hatching of chicks, the female and male constantly fly out in turn from the nest for the extraction of worms and beetles. Their number ranges from 100 to 300 pieces. In less than a month, the chicks fully grow and fledge.

In the north, the period of laying eggs begins in March, and on the opposite side of the planet it starts from September until the early start of winter. Thus, the female produces offspring about three times.

Interestingly, the males are not monogamous, that is, they choose one female for the breeding season, but for the next season they choose another.

Basically, the bird lays four to seven pastel-blue eggs, and their weight is 5-7 grams. They hatch over two weeks.

Where do ordinary starlings live?

Their habitat is common in all climatic zones, except Central and South America. Even on the continents (Australia, Africa) they have been inhabited since the nineteenth century. Because of its unpretentiousness, the starlings adapted to living conditions in hot countries.

Those birds that are in the southern and western parts of the European part do not fly to warm regions, and in colder areas, when cold weather sets in, they fly to the south (India, Cambodia, Morocco). Often, the departure distance can reach two thousand kilometers.

Returning from the south occurs in early spring, and in northern species, in early spring. Moreover, first the males fly out, and in a few days - the males.Habitats of field species are swamps, plains, fields, coastal soils of lakes and rivers.

What eats?

In order to find food, birds bypass the soil or inspect the trees in search of insects. Their food is completely dependent on the subspecies and insect species in the area in which they live. It mainly consists of seeds and fruits of plants, field crickets, ants, bugs, caterpillars, butterflies. Birds love to visit gardeners for fruits and berries. They are more interested in grapes. If birds live in megalopolises, then they feed on what citizens leave in specially made feeders, but sometimes fly out of its limits in the absence of food. In March and April, their main food is insects (centipedes, crickets, larvae and worms).

Their main delicacies are various grains, currants, strawberries, raspberries, apples, pears, apricots. Due to the shape and sharpness of the beak, birds are able to crush bones and nuts.

Interesting facts

1. Starlings perfectly imitate the sources of other sounds. They can not only show their own voice, but also make it look like a phone ringing, croaking toads, squeaking, crashing, chattering grasshoppers, dog barking.
2. Flocks of starlings can be so large that they can break off branches when placed on a tree.
3. Starlings are not only pests in cities and summer cottages, but also useful birds in some places. Sometimes people build specially improved houses for them to help them in the fight against pests.
4. In Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the United Kingdom, the bird population has decreased significantly. This happened due to the fact that there was reduced the amount of land for cows and sheep.
5. The population of some countries calls these birds "cracklings", which means toasted pieces of bacon.
6. Often they are confused with blackbirds in the mating season, since it is at this time that their beak becomes bright yellow.
7. Starlings are always under great danger. They may die from the paws of peregrine falcons, eagles, crows and other birds of prey. Also, their nests can be ravaged by wolves, foxes, dogs, they are attracted to small chicks and eggs.
8. The bird is gregarious, it never lives alone. Even nesting occurs not in one pair, but in a whole colony locally. Even in search of food, they are sent by the whole pack.
9. To spend the night they go to the marshes, in the bushes of reeds and sedges, or on the branches of shrubs and trees.

Starling species

Scientific figures distinguish them in appearance into twelve species. The most popular are: fiberut, earrings, pink, lane.

1. The most striking is the pink starling, as it has a soft pink breast and blotches on its wings. When combined into a flock, a very beautiful pink cloud is formed.
2. The earring bird creates nests in the form of domes, and its name comes from the protuberances that appear in males in the mating season. Also, these starlings are light gray in color and have combs like a cock.
3. Myna lives mainly in the Asian part of the world. In color, it looks like ordinary starlings, but the tail has white blotches.
4. The filaments differ from other species in that they have orange eyes and a red tip of the beak. They can often be seen in documentaries about wild animals, as the starlings clean them from parasitic insects.

Singing

Undoubtedly, it differs somewhat in different areas, but they all have the main feature - high volume and power of their voice.In addition, the song consists of chirping combined with a whistle. The basis of their voice are songs of other birds. While singing, birds open their mouth wide, shake the plumage on the throat, and sometimes flap their wings. While in the flock, the birds are shouting loudly, calling each other.

Video: Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)