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 (3 clips)
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Swarming starlings
Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions
Gulls and falcons have a hard time catching starlings in Rome.
You'd think that with 10 million starlings to choose from, gulls and falcons would have an easy time catching their prey. But starlings have safety in numbers, as shown in the wonderful clip from Swarm. Faced with a giant shape-shifting monster, the gulls and falcons don't stand a chance.
Flocking starlings
Flocking starlings can be one of the UKs most impressive wildlife spectacles.
Flocking starlings can be one of the UKs most impressive wildlife spectacles.
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.
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): NOVEMBER BY THE SEVERN
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Archived
The Nature of Britain: Island
Series on British wildlife, presented by Alan Titchmarsh.
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Archived
Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions: One Million Heads, One Beautiful Mind
Millions of bats form a living tornado in which complex information is exchanged.
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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Featured in...
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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.
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?
They can be found in the following habitats:
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: 2009
Elsewhere on the web
- Animal Diversity Web (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- ARKive: Images of Life on Earth (arkive.org)
- 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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