Wildlife
Starling
Although seen in their millions in the spectacular winter aerial displays, starlings have suffered a dramatic population crash in recent years. Once a common sight in both urban and rural areas of Britain, starling numbers have dropped by a staggering 92% in woodlands.
These beautiful and comical birds emit a variety of chuckles and whistles along with numerous imitations of other birdsongs. From a distance they look a dull black but up close the myriad of colours in their feathers becomes visible.
Did you know?
Although commonly used to describe the aerial display, the 'murmuration' originally referred to the sound of wings rippling through the flock.
Watch video clips from past programmes (18 clips)
In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on.
Swirling starlings
Living Britain
Nights on the town are numbered for Brighton's West Pier starlings.
Nights on the town are numbered for Brighton's West Pier starlings.
Starlings - The Black Sun
The Code
Marcus du Sautoy travels to Denmark to watch a flock of starlings as they make their annual migration from southern Europe to Scandinavia.
In episode three of The Code, Marcus du Sautoy travels to Denmark to watch a flock of starlings as they make their annual migration from southern Europe to Scandinavia and marvels at their formation known as the black sun.
Bully birds
Bill Oddie's Top 10 Birds
Starlings aren't an obvious favourite, until they take to the air in autumn.
Starlings aren't an obvious favourite, until they take to the air in autumn.
Starlings strut their stuff
The Animal's Guide to Britain
Chris Packham gets a worm's eye view of the starling's adaptations.
Chris Packham gets a worm's eye view of the starling's adaptations.
A starling's history of Britain
The Animal's Guide to Britain
Woodland clearances created the ideal environment for a starling boom.
Woodland clearances created the ideal environment for a starling boom.
Distribution
Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder.
The Starling can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, China, Europe, Indian subcontinent, Mediterranean, North America, Russia, United Kingdom, Wales. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
Habitats
The following habitats are found across the Starling distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Farmland
Brownfield land
Desert
Flooded grassland
Mediterranean forest
Mountain grassland
Parkland
Swamp
Broadleaf forest
Coniferous forest
Temperate grassland
Tropical grassland
UrbanBehaviours
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Helpless young
Migration
Predation defence
Colonial
Adapted to flying
Acoustic communication
Mimicry
Moulting
Egg layer
Parental investment
Polygynous
Social
Swarming
Visual communicationAdditional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Conservation Status
Least Concern
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Year assessed: 2009
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
About
The Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), also known as the European Starling or just Starling, is a passerine bird in the family Sturnidae.
This species of starling is native to most of temperate Europe and western Asia. It is resident in southern and western Europe and southwestern Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter to these regions, and also further south to areas where it does not breed in Iberia and north Africa. It has also been introduced to Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, North America, and South Africa.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. If you find the content in the 'About' section factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia. For more information on our use of Wikipedia please read our FAQ.
Classification
- Life
- Animals
- Vertebrates
- Birds
- Perching birds
- Sturnidae
- Sturnus
- Starling
Sounds
-
Starling mimicry (3:51)
-
Mass roosting starlings (1:47)
-
Starling chicks (1:03)
-
Starling alarm calls (2:32)
-
Starling song (0:25)
BBC News about Starling
- British birds are bouncing back A national survey by the RSPB records a rise in the populations of small birds, including long-tailed tits, goldcrests and coal tits.
- Secret lives of starlings filmed
- A murmuration of starlings
Video collections
Take a trip through the natural world with our themed collections of video clips from the natural history archive.
-
Nature: Behind the Scenes
The BBC has been producing ground-breaking wildlife programmes from across the globe for over 50 years.
-
What on Earth...? 2009
Watch the year's highlights from the BBC's exploration of the planet's hidden corners and rarest creatures: from the turquoise seas of the South Pacific to the Lost Land of the Volcano.
-
Garden birds
Nestcam close-ups, expert identification guides and specialist wildlife cameras give a privileged view of a very British obsession: garden birds.
-
Wild autumn
Autumn - a time of great change, of breathtaking migrations, of high drama.
Elsewhere on the web
- Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- The UK starling population (blx1.bto.org)
- ARKive: Images of Life on Earth (arkive.org)
- UK fact file and recent sightings (birdguides.com)
- Roosting starlings (rspb.org.uk)
- The mathematics of murmurating starlings (telegraph.co.uk)
- European Starling (wikipedia.org)
bbc.co.uk navigation
BBC links
BBC © 2012 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
