Spot European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

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Starlings are chunky and blackbird-sized, but with short tails and long, slender beaks. In flight their wings are short and pointed, making them look rather like small, four-pointed stars (and giving them their name). At a distance, starlings look black. In summer they are purplish-green iridescent with yellow beaks; in fresh winter plumage they are brown, covered in brilliant white spots. Diet and behavioral habits: Once abundant in Balboa Park, their numbers have diminished since the turn of the century, but they are still considered a fairly common resident. Starlings are boisterous, loud, and they travel in large groups. Their diet consists mostly of insects especially beetles, grasshoppers, flies, and caterpillars, also spiders, snails, earthworms, and other invertebrates. In fall and winter, they will eat a wide variety of berries, fruits, and seeds and sometimes visits flowers for nectar. Nesting habits: The Starling’s nest site is in any kind of cavity; usually in natural hollow or woodpecker hole in tree, in a birdhouse, or hole in giant cactus. Sometimes even in holes or crevices in buildings or other odd spots. Nest construction is begun by the male, is often completed by the female. Nest is a loose mass of twigs, weeds, grass, leaves, trash, feathers, with slight depression for eggs.

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