Common Starling

Can be confused withSource

• Common Blackbird — Blackbird is larger with a long tail, matte black (male) or brown (female) with no metallic sheen or spots, and hops on the ground — the starling walks and runs. The blackbird's bill is shorter and curved, not long and pointed.

Plumage and variationSource

Male and female: In the breeding season the male has a blue-grey bill base, a dark uniform eye and long, shaggy throat feathers; the female has a pink/horn-coloured bill base, often a pale ring in the iris, and shorter throat feathers.

Summer and winter: Breeding (spring/summer): glossy black with a green-purple sheen, yellow bill and few spots (the pale tips wear off). Non-breeding (after the autumn moult): heavily pale-spotted all over with a dark bill.

Juvenile: Juvenile is uniform grey-brown with a paler throat and a dark bill — wholly lacking the adult gloss; in late summer, moulting birds show a brown head on an already spotted body.

VoiceSource

A very varied, sustained song from an open perch: whistles, clicks, rattles and sharp mimicry of other birds (and sounds like phone ringtones), often with a drawn-out descending whistle "tsheeoo". Call a harsh "tcheer".

BehaviourSource

Gregarious; walks and runs briskly across lawns and fields, probing its bill into the ground for invertebrates. Strong, direct flight on triangular wings. Forms huge flocks that produce the "black sun" murmurations in the Wadden Sea. Nests in cavities — wall holes, roof edges and nest boxes.

When and whereSource

A very common breeding bird throughout Denmark, from towns to open country. Returns to breeding sites from February–March. Large staging flocks in the Tønder and Ribe marshes produce the "black sun" murmurations — best in spring (March–April) and autumn (late July–October/early November).

Facts

RelativesSource