Starlings

All 5 species of starlings on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 98 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• From 100 birds released in New York in 1890, its North American population passed 200 million within a century.

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• It is known for forming huge coordinated flocks called murmurations.

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• It is one of the most successful invasive birds in the world.

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• A great mimic: it works other birds into its song, and even alarms and doorbells.

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• It is a practically Iberian endemic: outside the peninsula and the Maghreb it does not exist, which makes the commonest bird of many Spanish villages a species with a very restricted world distribution.

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• Its urban winter roosts gather tens of thousands of birds into a few trees and generate complaints from residents about noise and droppings in many Spanish cities.

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• Metallic blue with an orange belly; it is the most conspicuous bird on any East African safari.

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• Its colonies practise a social reciprocity measured over the long term: a twenty-year study in Kenya showed that individuals who help to raise young receive help in return years later, even between unrelated birds.

Ecosystems