Saturday, February 21, 2009

European Starling

(Pic from columbia.edu)
So numerous they are not protected in the US or Canada. Sturnus vulgaris

Voice – a series of discordant, musical, squeaky and rasping notes; often imitates other birds. Call a descending whee-ee.

Nesting – 4-6 pale blue eggs in a mass of twigs, grass, and trash lined with finer plant material and feathers, and placed in a tree or building cavity.

Range – Native to Eurasia and widely introduced around the world.

Hordes of these birds damage vegetable or fruit crops and do considerable damage around orchards and feedlots, consuming and fouling the feed of domestic cattle. They join blackbirds to feed on locusts, ground beetles, and the like. Starlings compete with native hole-nesters for woodpecker holes and natural cavities.

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