By Tony Gazso, Interpretive Naturalist

The story of the European starling is a simple one. The bird was brought to the U.S. in the late 1800s by a group of Shakespeare enthusiasts who believed that America should have all the flora and fauna mentioned in the bard's work. They released a crate of starlings in Shakespeare Garden, a small section of Central Park in New York, and the rest is history. Often overlooked is the fact that the birds were released numerous times over the course of a few years before they found themselves established in their new home. Being taken from your home and brought to a country with an entirely different ecosystem would be jarring for any animal. All of their favorite foods were gone. The predators they learned to avoid were replaced by different ones. The ecological niche they fit into perfectly, was taken up by birds native to their new home. To survive, the European starling needed to adapt. To do so, they needed to be aggressive and take over occupied nesting areas and food sources. And they passed those tests with flying colors. Today, they are the most abundant songbird in all of North America, but that came at the expense of many native birds whose populations declined. 

The European starling is a beautiful bird with some cool features. Starlings are easy to identify because they are stocky, have very short tails and are the only black birds in North America with bright yellow bills. The starling's plumage changes through what's known as wear molt. New feathers grow in during fall and feature brown edges and/or white tips. These brown and white edges wear down by summer leaving them looking much darker and glossier in appearance and showing off a beautiful array of iridescent purples and greens.

Starlings forage on the ground for insects. Their bills actually have stronger opening muscles than closing. And while this means they don't have a strong bite, it does help them forage. They stick their pointed bills into the ground, then open them, creating a hole they can then nab insects out of. Starlings are also known for their massive flying flocks, known as a murmuration, where hundreds of them fly around in a cloud and move almost as one organism. 

The starling's reputation took a big hit after their introduction to America. Once loved in Europe, they are now labeled as pests in America. And while many scorn them, it's not their fault. Those who brought them over from Europe didn't understand the dangers of introducing species to areas they aren't native to. So next time you see a group of starlings bullying other birds out of your feeders, remember that they're just doing what animals do–making the best of the situation they find themselves in.