Additionally, in urban and rural settings, bird may seek shelter in barns and industrial buildings and create a lot of noise and filth which pose health hazards. Ecologically, starlings may outcompete native cavity-nesting birds for nest sites.
While there are no significant results indicating species declines for all native cavity nesters due to starlings, Koenig did find that certain species, such as native sapsuckers Sphyrapicus spp. Starlings are also frugivores, meaning they feed on the fruits of plants. When fruits pass through the system of a bird after being ingested it may increase the likelihood that those seeds will germinate in some cases.
A study done in found that the digestive system of starlings will increase seed germination after feeding on invasive autumn olive Elaeagnus umbellata and invasive oriental bittersweet Celastrus orbiculatus fruit and that the seed stayed inside the starlings long enough for dispersal to occur LaFleur et al. Starlings look similar to blackbirds and have a short, square tail with a slender, yellow beak.
Their wings are pointed and triangular. The plumage of a European starling is a glossy black with green, purple, blue or bronze iridescence. In the fall, starlings may have a spotty appearance after molting, but the spots on their wing tips wear away by spring. Male and females look similar however, the female may have a slightly duller appearance.
Additionally, in the breeding season the lower mandible of the beak in males will appear blue-gray and pinkish in females. Starlings are noisy birds making many clicks, whistles, rattles, squeaks, and sounds mimicking those from their environment or songs from other birds.
To prevent further spread of European starlings, eggs and nests can be destroyed before the nestlings are able to fledge.
Sticky polybutene materials may also be placed in roosting sites to deter birds from landing in a specific area. In cases where these methods are not practical, contact the Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services for more information.
Starlings nesting in buildings: Starlings are adept at establishing nest sites in nooks or crannies in buildings. Nesting activity can damage buildings, create fire hazards, and clog gutters and drainpipes, causing water damage. Prevent starlings from nesting or roosting in structures by installing barriers Fig.
Light material, such as bird netting or rags, will not keep determined starlings out. Replace any loose shingles or siding, and repair broken windows. Install commercially available vent guards to prevent starlings from entering exhaust vents and dryer vents. Prevent starlings from roosting on walls covered with vegetation by removing the vegetation or draping bird netting over the area.
In new construction, avoid creating small cavities or spaces with access from the exterior into which starlings can enter and nest. Starlings can be evicted from buildings and other sites any time of year. State and federal laws do not protect this species. The nesting material should be collected and removed to prevent the birds from using it for a new nest.
Take immediate steps to prevent starlings from rebuilding. If the birds are caring for young, one approach is to wait until the young can fly out of the nest, then remove all nesting materials and cover all openings. Starlings at feeders: Starlings are attracted to both seed and suet feeders, and their aggressive habits can deplete food supplies and keep smaller birds from approaching.
By choosing the right bird feed, style of bird feeder, or modifying an existing feeder, you can discourage starlings. Because starlings have difficulty cracking the commercially available black sunflower seeds, these can be offered in feeders. Because starlings have difficulty landing on a small perch, making the perches on a feeder smaller by sawing them, or removing the perches altogether, can keep starlings off Fig. Most songbirds do not need a perch to access the seed.
Starlings may also be deterred by small feeders that swing and twirl whenever the heavy birds land on them Fig. Because starlings have trouble clinging upside down, a suet feeder that requires the birds to clasp the feeder from below will discourage starlings. Your local bird specialty store can give you information on suet feeder designs to deter these birds. Wire mesh placed over a platform feeder will prevent starlings from accessing the seed Fig.
Starlings roosting in trees: In fall and winter, the communal night roosts of thousands of starlings create accumulations of droppings below the roost. When a health official deems this a health risk to the public, steps need to be taken to disperse the flock.
Options include installing visual and auditory scare devices, and thinning 30 to 50 percent of the branches of roost trees—or removing trees from dense groves—to reduce the availability of perch sites and to open the trees to the weather Fig. A tree service company can provide this service. Experience has shown that the best results occur when the pruning of trees is combined with scare tactics. See Canada Geese for information on visual, auditory, and other scare devices.
Although starlings can be interesting to watch in highly built-up areas where few other bird species thrive, they are a serious problem in areas where native birds exist.
These introduced species compete with native, cavity nesting birds for nesting spots, which are becoming increasingly less plentiful as trees are cut down. Male starlings are especially aggressive in their search for nest sites: They will peck holes in eggs laid by other birds, throw out their nesting material, and kill their young.
Starlings will build nests on top of existing nests containing eggs, and can evict the larger wood duck from its nest boxes. Table 1. Entry hole dimensions needed by some small native cavity-nesting birds. Click image to enlarge. Figure A nest box designed to provide a safe nesting site for native cavity-nesting songbirds.
Protect fruit crops with flexible bird netting, which can be purchased in a variety of lengths and widths at garden and hardware stores; professional quality materials and hardware are available from bird-control companies and over the Internet. Secure the base of the shrub or the tree to prevent starlings from gaining access from below Fig. Individual small branches containing fruit can be protected with an onion sack or similar mesh covering. Protect fruit crops with flexible bird netting.
Secure the netting at the base of the shrub or tree to prevent starlings from gaining access from below. Drawing by Jenifer Rees. Row crops, such as strawberries, can be completely covered during the fruiting season.
If the netting is to be used for several harvest seasons, it may be worth the extra effort to construct a frame to support the netting. Scare devices, such as pie tins and commercially available Mylar balloons or Mylar scare tape, are known to provide temporary protection. Suspend balloons at least 3 feet above trees or bushes, or from lines between posts. Use tethers at least 3 feet long. Attach special red and silver bird-scare tape to stakes and stretch it 18 inches above the areas that need protection.
The tape should move freely, so that when a slight breeze blows it will flash in the sun. The space between tapes will have to be no more than 5 feet to be effective.
Because most birds will fly into a strawberry patch, land on the ground between the plants and eat the ripe strawberries from there, scare devices placed above the patch are not effective.
Instead, place the scare tape between the rows. The tape should sag slightly but should not be less than 3 inches or more than 5 inches from the ground. Always harvest ripe fruit immediately. Protect germinating corn plants and other crops with bird netting until plants are about 8 inches tall. There are million of these birds on the continent, and they can be found as far north as Alaska and as far south as Mexico.
Numerous though they are, starlings are actually non-native invasive species. And we can blame Shakespeare for their arrival in America. On March 6, , a New York pharmaceutical manufacturer name Eugene Schieffelin brought natural disaster into the heart of completely without meaning to. Through the morning snow, which congealed at times to sleet, sixty starlings, imported at great expense from Europe, accompanied Schieffelin on the ride from his country house into Central Park—the noisy, dirty fulfillment of his plan to introduce every bird mentioned by Shakespeare into North America.
Schieffelin loved Shakespeare and he loved birds…. The American Acclimatization Society, to which he belonged, had released other avian species found in Shakespeare—the nightingales and skylarks more commonly mentioned in his plays and poems—but none had survived.
There was no reason to believe that starlings would fare any better. Schieffelin opened the cages and released the birds into the new world, without the smallest notion of what he was unleashing.
For someone who apparently loved birds, you have to admit this was a pretty daft plan. There was every reason to believe that the birds would die—it was bitterly cold and sleeting, and attempts with other species had led to dead birds.
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