Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Starlings have always been thought of as a common bird in the UK, but their numbers in the UK have declined - possibly due to the use of pesticides and consequent lack of invertebrate prey.
What do they sound like?
Watch video clips from past programmes (2 clips)
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Flocking starlings
Flocking starlings
Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife (series 1)
Thousands of birds flock to their roost in one of Britain's greatest wildlife spectacles.
Featured in the following TV programmes
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Archived
Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife (series 1): FEBRUARY IN DEVON
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Archived
The Nature of Britain: Island
Series on British wildlife, presented by Alan Titchmarsh.
About the Starling
The European Starling, Common Starling or just Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 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, New Zealand, North America, and South Africa.
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Scientific Classification
Order: Passerine (Passeriformes)
Family: Sturnidae
Genus: Sturnus
Species: European Starling (vulgaris)
Common Names
- Common starling
- European starling
The Starling is
Adaptation data provided by Animal Diversity Web
Where can I see them?
This region contains the following habitats:
Species range provided by WWF's Wildfinder
Conservation Status
The Starling is Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Year assessed: 2008
Elsewhere on the web
- European starling - Sturnus vulgaris (arkive.org)
- Sturnus vulgaris (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- Bird Guides: fact file and sightings (birdguides.com)
- RSPB: fact file (rspb.org.uk)
- Telegraph: starling survival (telegraph.co.uk)
- European Starling (wikipedia.org)
Site links
BBC links
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