The starlocal ( Sturnus vulgaris ), also known as Jalak Europe , or in the British Isles is just starlings , is a medium-sized passerine bird in a starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 inches) long and has a shiny black feather with metallic sheen, which is white speckled at some time of the year. Her legs are pink and her bills are black in winter and yellow in the summer; Young birds have more colorful fur than adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with a song that is not funny but varies. Her prize for mimicry has been recorded in the literature including Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.
The common starling has about a dozen subspecies breeding in open habitats across its original ranges in temperate and western Europe, and has been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Falkland Islands, Brazil, Chile , Uruguay, South Africa and Fiji. These birds are populated in southern and western Europe and southwest Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter in the breeding range and also further south to Iberia and North Africa. The common starling builds an improper nest in a natural or artificial cavity in which four or five pale blue and shiny eggs are laid. It takes two weeks to hatch and the young ones stay in the nest for three more weeks. There are usually one or two breeding attempts every year. The species is omnivorous, taking on various invertebrates, as well as seeds and fruit. It is hunted by a variety of mammals and birds of prey, and is home to a variety of external and internal parasites.
Specific large flocks of this species can be beneficial to agriculture by controlling invertebrate pests; However, starlings can also become their own pests when they eat fruit and grow crops. Common starlings can also interfere through the noise and chaos caused by their massive urban screams. Specially introduced populations have experienced various controls, including extermination, but this has limited success except in preventing Western Australia colonization.
This species has declined in numbers in northern and western Europe since the 1980s because fewer grassland invertebrates are available as food for growing chicks. However, its large global population is not considered to be significantly decreased, so starlings are classified as the least noticed by the International Union for Nature Conservation.
Video Common starling
Taxonomy and systematics
The common starlings were first described by Linnaeus in Systema Naturae in 1758 under his current binomial name. Sturnus and vulgaris are derived from Latin for "starling" and "common" respectively. Old English staer , then staring , and Latin sturnus both derived from unknown Indo-European roots dating from the second millennium BC.. "Starling" was first recorded in the 11th century, when it refers to the juveniles of the species, but by the 16th century it had largely replaced "gazes" to refer to birds of all ages. The older name is referenced in William Butler Yeats poem "The Stare's Nest by My Window". The International Ornithological Congress' preferred general English name is a common star.
The Starling family, Sturnidae, is an Old World group separated from introductions elsewhere, with the largest number of species in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The genus Sturnus is polyphyletic and the relationship between its members is not fully resolved. The closest connection of the common starlings is the spotless spot. Starlings without unmigrated sites may originate from the ancestral population of S. vulgaris that survived in Iberian shelters during ice age cracks, and mitochondrial genetic studies suggest that it may be considered a subspecies of the common starlings. There is more genetic variation among the common starlings population than between imaging the usual starling star and the spotless starling bird. Although the remains of the commonly known starlings of the Central Pleistocene, part of the problem in resolving relationships in Sturnidae is the lack of a fossil record for the family as a whole.
Subspecies
There are several subspecies of common starlings, which vary clinically in adult hair color and tone. The gradual variation over geographic ranges and extensive intergradation means that acceptance of various subspecies varies between the authorities.
- Subspecies
The birds of Fair Isle, St Kilda and Outer Hebrides have a medium size between S. v. zetlandicus and the nomination form, and the placement of their subspecies varies according to authority. Dark teenagers typical of this island form are sometimes found in mainland Scotland and elsewhere, showing some gene flow from faroensis or zetlandicus , a subspecies previously thought to be isolated.
Some other subspecies have been named, but are generally no longer considered valid. Most are intergrades that occur where the range of different subspecies meet. These include: S. v. ruthenus Menzbier, 1891 and S. v. jitkowi Buturlin, 1904, which is the intergrades between vulgaris and poltaratskyi from western Russia; S. v. graecus Tschusi, 1905 and S. v. balcanicus Buturlin and Harms, 1909, intergrades between the vulgaris and the tauricus from the southern Balkans to the center of Ukraine and all of Greece to the Bosporus; and S. v. heinrichi Stresemann, 1928, an intermediate between caucasicus and nobilior in northern Iran. S. v. persepolis Ticehurst, 1928 from southern Iran (Fars Province) is very similar to S. v. vulgaris , and it is unclear whether residents of different populations or simply migrants from southeastern Europe. Maps Common starling
Description
The common starling is 19-23 cm (7.5-9.1 inches) long, with a wingspan of 31-44 cm (12-17 inches) and weighs 58-101 g (2.0-3.6 oz). Among the standard measurements, the wing chord is 11.8 to 13.8 cm (4.6-5.4 inches), the tail is 5.8 to 6.8 cm (2.3-2.7 inches), the culmen is 2.5 to 3.2 cm (0.98 to 1.26 in) and the tarsus is 2.7 to 3.2 cm (1.1 to 1.3 inches). The fur is black, purple or green, and white, especially in winter. The bottom of male male starlings is less visible than the adult female at any given time of the year. Male throat is long and loose and is used in appearance while women are smaller and more pointed. His legs are fat and pink or grayish red. The bill was narrow and conical with a sharp tip; in winter it is brownish black but in summer, females have yellow yellow beak while males have yellow paper money with blue-gray base. Moulting occurs once a year - at the end of summer after the mating season is over; its fresh feathers have a clear white tip (breast hair) or buff (wings and feathers behind), which gives the bird a mottled appearance. The reduction of spotting in the breeding season is achieved through the tip of the mostly faded white fur. Adolescents are gray-brown and in their first winter resemble an adult though often retain some brown teenage feathers, especially on the head. They can usually be likened to the color of irises, rich chocolates in men, brown or gray rats in women. Estimating the contrast between the iris and the always dark center of the pupil is 97% accurate in determining the sex, rising to 98% if the length of the feather throat is also considered. The common starlings are medium with star standards and passerine standards. This is easily distinguishable from other intermediate passers, such as thrushes, icterids or small corvids, by its relatively short, sharp tails, blade-like blades, rounded abdomen and strong legs, large enough (and rufous). In flight, the wings are very pointed and distinctive dark colors, while in strange soil, the road is somewhat wobbly as well as characteristic. Coloring and building usually distinguish these birds from other starlings, although stubborn non-stitchless birds can be physically distinguished by the lack of colorful spots in adult breeding fur.
Like most terrestrial starlings, the common starlings move by walking or running, rather than jumping. Their flight is strong and direct; their triangular wings are beating very fast, and periodically birds glide for short streets without losing much heights before continuing a powerful flight. While in flocks, the birds fly almost simultaneously, spin and turn together, forming a crowded mass or along a clear stream of streams, clustering again and landing in a coordinated way. The common starlings in migration can fly at 60-80 km/h (37-50 mph) and cover up to 1,000-1,500 km (620-930 mi).
Some terrestrial starlings, including those in the genus Sturnus , have skull and muscle adaptations that help feed with probing. This adaptation is most strongly developed on the common starlings (along with starless starlings and white stars), where the protector muscles responsible for opening up the jaw are enlarged and the skull narrow, allowing the eye to move forward to peer down the length of the bill. This technique involves putting a bill into the ground and opening it as a way of finding hidden food items. The common starling has a physical nature that allows them to use this feeding technique, which no doubt has helped the species spread far and wide.
In Iberia, western Mediterranean and northwestern Africa, the common starlings may be confused with the very close net bird starlings, the fur which, as the name implies, has a more uniform color. From close range it can be seen that the latter has a longer throat hair, a very real fact when he sings.
Vocalization
The common starling is a noisy bird. The song consists of a variety of melodic sounds and mechanical sounds as part of a series of ritual sounds. Men are the lead singers and engage in songs that last for a minute or so. Each typically includes four types of song types, which follow each other in a regular sequence without pause. The fight begins with a series of pure-tone whistles and this is followed by the main part of the song, a number of sequences of variables that often incorporate pieces of song imitated from other bird species and various sounds that occur naturally or man-made. The structure and simplicity of the sound being imitated is more important than the frequency occurring. In some cases, a wild starlings have been observed to mimic a voice he only hears once. Each sound clip is repeated several times before the bird moves to the next. After this variable section appears a number of repetitive clicks followed by a final burst of high frequency songs, again formed from several types. Each bird has its own repertoire with more advanced birds with a range of up to 35 variant song types and as many as 14 click types.
Men sing continuously as the breeding period approaches and performs less often once the couple has been bound. In the presence of a woman, a man occasionally flies into his nest and sings from the entrance, apparently trying to pull a woman inside. Older birds tend to have a wider repertoire than younger ones. Men who engage in attacks sing longer and who have a wider repertoire attract couples earlier and have greater reproductive success than others. Women seem to prefer friends with more complex songs, perhaps because it shows a greater experience or longevity. Having a complex song is also useful in defending the region and preventing less experienced males from crossing borders.
Singing also occurs outside the breeding season, which occurs throughout the year in addition to the moulting period. The songsters are more often men though women also sometimes sing. The function of such off-season songs is poorly understood. The other eleven call types have been described including sheep calling, call threats, attacks, abusive calls and copulation calls. The alarm call is a loud scream, and while searching for food with the usual starling quarrels nonstop. They chat while crowing and bathing, making a lot of noise that can cause irritation to people who live nearby. When common starlings fly together, the synchronized wings of birds make a distinctive whirring sound that can be heard hundreds of meters (yards).
Behavior and ecology
The common starling is a very gregarious species, especially in autumn and winter. Although the herd size varies greatly, large, noisy swarms - murmurations - can form near roosts. This dense concentration of birds is considered a defense against birds of prey such as peregrine hawks or Sparrowhawks Eurasian birds. Flocks form a ball-like formation that is solid in flight, often widespread and shriveled and deformed, apparently without any leader. Each common starland changes its direction and speed as a result of the movement of its nearest neighbor.
Very large roosts, up to 1.5 million birds, can form in downtown, forest or reedbeds, causing problems with their impurities. It can accumulate up to 30 cm (12 inches), killing trees with concentrations of chemicals. In smaller amounts, dirt acts as a fertilizer, and therefore forest managers may try to move roosts from one wooden area to another to benefit from increased soils and avoid large toxic deposits.
Large flocks of over a million common starlings can be observed before sunset in spring in southwestern Jutland, Denmark over the TÃÆ'¸nder and Esbjerg sea swamps between TÃÆ'¸nder and Ribe. They gather in March until the northern Scandinavian birds go for their breeding range in mid-April. The behavior of their herds creates complex shapes of silhouettes against the sky, a phenomenon known locally as a kind of sol ("black sun"). Any flock from the five to fifty thousand public starlings formed in the British regions before sunset during the middle of winter. These herds are commonly called murmurations.
Feed
The common starlings are mostly insectivorous eaters and eat both pests and other arthropods. Food ranges include spiders, crane fly, moths, dragonflies, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, earwigs, lacewings, caddisflies, flies, beetles, flies, bees, wasps, and ants. It is consumed both in the adult and larval development stages, and common starlings will also feed on earthworms, snails, small amphibians and lizards. While consumption of invertebrates is necessary for successful breeding, the common starlings are omnivores and can also eat grains, grains, fruits, nectar and food scraps whenever possible. Sturnidae is different from most birds because they can not easily metabolize foods containing high levels of sucrose, although they can overcome other fruits such as grapes and cherries. The Azores subspecies that are isolated from the common starlings eat eggs from unevenly endangered roses. Steps are being introduced to reduce the general starlings population by annihilation before they return to their breeding colonies in the spring.
There are several methods in which the common starlings get their food but for the most part, they search for food near the ground, taking insects from the surface or just below them. Generally, regular starlings prefer to feed between short grass and are often found among grazing animals or perched on their backs, where they will also eat external parasites of mammals. Large flocks may be involved in a practice known as "fattening", where the birds behind the flock continue to fly ahead where feeding opportunities are best. The larger the herd, the individuals who are closer to each other while feeding. Herds often feed in one place for some time, and return to the previously stolen site.
There are three types of eating behavior observed in the common starlings. "Probing" involves a bird that extends its beak into the ground randomly and repeatedly until an insect is found, and is often accompanied by a gaping opening where the bird opens its beak inside the ground to enlarge the hole. This behavior, first described by Konrad Lorenz and given the German term zirkeln , is also used to create and widen holes in plastic garbage bags. It takes time for young people to perfect this technique, and because this young bird food often contains fewer insects. "Hawking" is the capture of flying insects directly from the air, and "lunging" is a less common technique of attacking the forwards to capture moving invertebrates on the ground. Earthworms are captured by pulling from the ground. Common starlings that have periods without access to food, or have a reduction in the light hours available to eat, offset by increasing their body mass by fat deposition.
Nested
Unpaired men find the appropriate cavity and start building nests to attract single females, often decorating the nest with ornaments such as flowers and fresh green ingredients, which are then dismantled by women after accepting them as a couple. The amount of green material is not important, as long as there are some that are present, but the presence of herbs in the decorative material seems to be significant in attracting the couple. The smell of plants like yarrow serves as a smell attractant in women.
Men sing in many constructions and even more when a woman approaches her nest. After copulation, males and females continue to build nests. The nest may be in all types of holes, common locations included in perforated trees, buildings, tree stumps and man-made nests. S. v. zetlandicus usually breeds in crevices and holes in the cliffs, habitats are only rarely used by nomination forms. The nest is usually made of straw, dry grass and twigs with an inner layer made of feathers, wool and soft leaves. Construction usually takes four or five days and can be continued through incubation.
Common starlings are equally monogamous and polygamy; although the mains are generally carried by one male and one female, sometimes couples may have additional helpers. Couples may be part of the colony, where several other nests may occupy the same tree or nearby. Men can mate with a second female while the first is still in the nest. The success of bird reproduction is poorer in the second nest than in the primary nest and better when men remain monogamous.
Breeding
Breeding occurs during spring and summer. After copulation, females lay eggs daily for several days. If the egg is lost during this time, he will put the other to replace it. There are usually four or five eggs that are oval and pale blue or sometimes white, and they generally have a shiny appearance. The egg color appears to have evolved through good blue visibility at low light levels. The egg size is 26.5-34.5 mm (1.04-1.36 inches) and 20.0-22.5 mm (0.79-0.89 inches) in maximum diameter.
Incubation lasts for thirteen days, although the last egg can take 24 hours longer than the first hatch. Both parents share responsibility for brooding eggs, but females spend more time incarnating them than males, and are the only parents who do it at night when men return to communal enclosures. Young people born blind and naked. They develop fluff within seven days of hatching and can see in nine days. After chicks are able to regulate their body temperature, about six days after hatching, adults stop taking the dirt from the nest. Prior to that, fouling will moisten the fur of chicks and nest material, thereby reducing their effectiveness as insulation and increasing the risk of coldness of the hatchling. Nestlings remain in the nest for three weeks, where they are fed continuously by both parents. Fledglings continue to be fed by their parents for a week or two. A pair can raise up to three mothers per year, often reusing and loosening the same nest, although the two mothers are typical, or just one north 48 Â ° N. Within two months, most teenagers will moulted and get their first basic fur. They get their adult hair the following year. Like other passerines, the nest remains clean and bags of feces of chicks are removed by adults.
Intraspecific parent faeces common in the same starling nest. Women "floaters" (women not in pairs during the breeding season) present in the colony often spawn in the nest of another couple. Fledglings has also been reported to attack its own nest or its surroundings and expel new mothers. Common nests have successful fledging success rates of 48% to 79%, though only 20% of the nests survive to mating age; adult survival rate is closer to 60%. The average lifespan is about 2-3 years, with a long life record of 22 years 11 m.
Predators and parasites
The majority of star predators are birds. The typical response of starlings is to fly, with a general view of a high-flying chainsaw with fast and agile patterns. Their ability in flight is seldom matched by birds of prey. The common adult starfish are hunted by eagles such as the northern goshawk ( Accipiter gentilis ) and Eurasian sparrowhawk ( Accipiter nisus ), and the eagle includes peregrine hawk ( Falco peregrinus ), Eurasia hobby ( Falco subbuteo ) and common kestrel ( Falco tinnunculus ). Slower raptors such as black and red kites ( Milvus migrans & milvus ), eastern imperial eagle ( Aquila heliaca ), public buzzard ( Buteo buteo ) and Australasian harrier ( Circus approximans ) tend to take fledglings or adolescents more easily captured. While perched in groups at night, they can become vulnerable to owls, including small owls ( Athene noctua ), long-eared owls ( Asio otus ), owls short-eared (Asio flammeus ), owl ( Tyto alba ), tawny owl ( Strix aluco ) and eagle-owl Eurasia ( Bubo bubo ).
More than twenty species of eagles, owls and eagles are known to sometimes precede wild birds in North America, although the most common predators of adults tend to be peregrine urban life eagles or merlins ( Falco columbarius ). Common mynas ( Acridotheres tristis ) occasionally remove eggs, nestlings and common starlings from their nests, and lower honeyguide ( minor indicator ), parasitic parent, using starlings common as a host. Starlings are more often the culprit than the victims of nest evictions, especially against starlings and other woodpeckers. The nests can be invaded by mammals capable of climbing into them, such as minks ( Mustela erminea ), raccoon ( Lotor Procyon ) and squirrel ( Sciurus spp. ), and the cat can catch the unwary.
Common starlings are hosts for various parasites. A survey of three hundred common starlings from six US states found that all had at least one type of parasite; 99% have lice, mites or external lice, and 95% carry internal parasites, mostly from different types of worms. The blood-sucking species leaves the host at death, but other external parasites remain in the corpse. A bird with a disability bill is so infested with Mallophaga fleas, probably because of his inability to remove pests.
Chicken lice ( Ceratophyllus gallinae ) are the most common lice in their nests. The flea of ​​the pale little church birds of C. fringillae is also sometimes found there and may arise from the habit of the primary host taking over the nests of other species. This tick does not occur in the US, even in home birdcages. Ticks include Menacanthus eurystemus , Brueelia nebulosa and Stumidoecus sturni . Other arthropods include Ixodes lice and mites such as Analgopsis passerinus , Boydaia stumi , Dermanyssus gallinae , Ornithonyssus bursa , O. sylviarum , Proctophyllodes species, Pteronyssoides truncatus and Trouessartia rosteri . The chicken mite D. gallinae is itself preyed by predatory mite Androlaelaps casalis . The presence of these controls on the number of parasitic species may explain why birds are prepared to reuse old nests.
Flying insects that parasitise common starlings include flies Omithomya nigricornis and saprophagous flies Camus hemapterus . The last species breaks its host's feathers and lives above the fat produced by growing feathers. The moth larvae Hofmannophila pseudospretella are nest eaters, which feed on animal materials such as faeces or dead nests. The protozoal blood parasite of the genus Haemoproteus has been found in the common starling, but the better known pest is the brilliant red nematodes Syngamus trachea . This worm moves from the lungs to the trachea and can cause its host to suffocate. In Britain, common castles and starlings are the most common wild birds. Other internal parasites listed include the three headed worms Prosthorhynchus transverses .
Common starlings can contract poultry tuberculosis, bird malaria, and lymphoma induced by retroviruses. Starfish catchers often collect excess iron in the liver, a condition that can be prevented by adding black tea leaves to food.
Distribution and habitat
The global population of common starlings is estimated to be 310 million people in 2004, occupying an area of ​​8,870,000 km 2 (3.420.000 sqÃ, mi). Widespread in the northern hemisphere, this bird originates from Eurasia and is found throughout Europe, northern Africa (from Morocco to Egypt), India (mainly north but regularly extends further south and extends to the Maldives) Nepal, Middle East including Syria, Iran, and Iraq and northwest China.
Starlings are common in southern and western Europe and southern latitudes 40 °, Â ° N are mainly inhabitants, though other populations migrate from areas where harsh winters, frozen soils and food are scarce. Large numbers of birds from Northern Europe, Russia and Ukraine migrate to the south west or south to the east. In the autumn, when immigrants came from Eastern Europe, many British starlings used to go to Iberia and North Africa. Other bird groups are on a cross-country lane and these different birdflow lanes can cross. Of the 15,000 birds that ring as nests in Merseyside, England, individuals have recovered at various times throughout the year such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and the Low Countries. A small number of sporadic public starlings have been observed in Japan and Hong Kong but it is not clear where these birds came from. In North America, northern populations have developed migration patterns, emptied most of Canada in winter. The birds in the eastern part of the country are moving south, and those from the northwest farther in the southwestern United States.
The common starling prefers urban or suburban areas where artificial structures and trees provide adequate nesting and nesting sites. Reedbeds are also favored for roosting and birds commonly eat in grassy areas such as farmland, pastures, playing fields, golf courses and airfields where short grass makes foraging easy. They occasionally inhabit open forests and forests and are sometimes found in shrublands such as Australia heathland. Common starlings rarely inhabit dense wet forests (ie rainforests or wet sclerophyll forests) but are found in coastal areas, where they nest and perched on cliffs and foraging among seaweeds. Their ability to adapt to a wide variety of habitats has allowed them to disperse and establish themselves in various locations around the world that produce habitats ranging from coastal wetlands to mountain forests, from sea cliffs to mountains between 1,900m (6,200ft) above sea ​​level.
Population introduced
The common starling has been introduced and has successfully established itself in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, North America, Fiji and some Caribbean islands. As a result, it can also migrate to Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Papua New Guinea.
South America
Five people transported by ship from England perched near Lago de Maracaibo in Venezuela in November 1949, but then vanished. In 1987, a small population of common starlings was observed lodged in gardens in the city of Buenos Aires. Since then, despite some early efforts to eradicate, the bird has expanded breeding range by an average of 7.5 km (4.7 miles) per year, keeping within 30 km (19 mi) of the Atlantic coast. In Argentina, species utilize a variety of natural and man-made nesting places, especially the woodpecker.
Australia
Common starlings are introduced to Australia to consume agricultural insect pests. Early settlers awaited their arrival, believing that common starlings were also important for pollination of hemp, the main agricultural product. Nest-boxes for newly released birds are placed on farms and near plants. The common starlings were introduced to Melbourne in 1857 and Sydney two decades later. In the 1880s, the established population was present in the southeast of the country thanks to the work of the acclimatization committee. By 1920, common starlings were widespread throughout Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, but at that time they were considered pests. Although common starlings were first seen in Albany, Western Australia in 1917, they were largely unable to spread to the state. The vast and dry Nullarbor Plain provides a natural barrier and control measures have been adopted that have killed 55,000 birds for three decades. The common starlings have also colonized Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.
New Zealand
The early settlers in New Zealand cleaned up the bushes and found their newly planted crops attacked by hordes of caterpillars and other insects deprived of their previous food sources. Original birds are not habituated to live close to humans so common starlings are introduced from Europe along with Sparrow Birds to control pests. It was first brought in 1862 by the Nelson Acclimatization Society and other introductions followed. The birds soon became established and are now found throughout the country including the subtropical Kermadec Islands to the north and the equally distant island of Macquarie to the south.
North America
After two unsuccessful attempts, about 60 common starlings were released in 1890 to Central Park New York by Eugene Schieffelin. He is president of the American Acclimatization Society, which is reportedly trying to introduce every species of bird mentioned in William Shakespeare's work to North America, although this has been disputed. Around the same date, Portland Song Bird Club released 35 pairs of public starlings in Portland, Oregon. These birds became established but disappeared around 1902. The common starlings reappeared in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1940s and these birds were probably descended from the introduction of 1890 Central Park. 60 native birds have since swelled in numbers up to 150 million, occupying an area stretching from southern Canada and Alaska to Central America.
Polynesia
The common starling appears to have arrived in Fiji in 1925 on the island of Ono-i-lau and Vatoa. It may be colonized from New Zealand through Raoul in the Kermadec Islands where it is abundant, that group is roughly the same distance between New Zealand and Fiji. Its distribution in Fiji is limited, and there are doubts about the survival of the population. Tonga was colonized on the same date and the birds there slowly spread north through the group.
South Africa
In South Africa, the common starlings were introduced in 1897 by Cecil Rhodes. It spread slowly, and by 1954, had reached Clanwilliam and Port Elizabeth. It is now common in the southern Cape region, thinned northward into the Johannesburg area. It's in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State provinces in South Africa and the Lesotho lowlands, with occasional sightings in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and around the Oranjemund city of Namibia. In South Africa the population appears as populations and birds are strongly associated with human and anthropogenic habitats. It favors irrigated soil and does not exist from areas where the soil is roasted so dry that it can not investigate insects. This may compete with native birds for nesting sites but native species may be more disadvantaged by the destruction of their natural habitat than those with inter-specific competition. These breed from September to December and outside the breeding season may congregate in large groups, often perched on reedbeds. It is the most common bird species in urban and agricultural areas.
West Indies
Residents of Saint Kitts petitioned to the Colonial Secretary to... government grants from starlings to annihilate...? a grasshopper outbreak that caused great damage to their crops in 1901. The common starlings were introduced to Jamaica in 1903, and the Bahamas and Cubans were colonized naturally from the US. These birds are fairly common but locally in Jamaica, Grand Bahama and Bimini, and rare throughout the Bahamas, eastern Cuba, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico and St. Croix.
Status
The global population of common starlings is estimated at more than 310 million people and the number is not expected to decrease significantly, so the bird is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as the most unnoticed. This has shown an increase in numbers across Europe from the 19th century to about the 1950s and 60s. Around 1830, S. v. vulgaris expanded its reach in the British Isles, spreading to Ireland and the Scottish region where it had not previously existed, although S. v. zetlandicus is already in Shetland and Outer Hebrides. The common starlings have been raised in northern Sweden from 1850 and in Iceland from 1935. The breeding range spreads through southern France to northeastern Spain, and there are various other expansions especially in Italy, Austria and Finland. It started breeding in Iberia in 1960, while the starling range of clean stars has grown to the north since the 1950s. The low rate of progress, approximately 4.7 km (2.9 mi) per year for both species, is due to suboptimal mountains and forest areas. The expansion has since slowed down further because of direct competition between two similar species where they overlap in southwestern France and northwest Spain.
Large decreases in the population have been observed since 1980 and beyond in Sweden, Finland, northern Russia (Karelia) and the Baltic States, and a smaller decline in most of northern and central Europe. The bird has been negatively affected in these areas with intensive farming, and in some countries has been re-registered due to a population decline of more than 50%. The figures were reduced in the United Kingdom by more than 80% between 1966 and 2004; although populations in some areas such as Northern Ireland were stable or even increased, people in other areas, especially the UK, declined more sharply. The overall decline appears to be due to the low survival rate of young birds, which may be caused by changes in agricultural practices. The intensive farming methods used in northern Europe mean there are fewer pastures and grassland habitats available, and the supply of grassland invertebrates needed for the nest to grow is also reduced.
Relationships with humans
Benefits and issues
Since starlings commonly eat insect pests such as wireworms, they are considered beneficial in northern Eurasia, and this is one of the reasons given for introducing birds elsewhere. About 25 million boxes of nests were established for this species in the former Soviet Union, and common starlings were found to be effective in controlling the grub of Costelytra zelandica in New Zealand. The original Australian introduction was facilitated by the provision of a nest box to help these insectivorous birds to breed successfully, and even in the US, where this is a pest species, the Department of Agriculture admits that many insects are consumed by common starlings..
Common starlings are introduced to areas such as Australia or North America, where other members of the genus do not exist, can affect native species through competition for nest holes. In North America, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, yellow martins, and other kites may be affected. In Australia, competitors for nesting sites include red and eastern rosella. For its role in the decline of native species and damage to agriculture, the common starlings have been included in the IUCN List of the world's 100 worst invasive species.
Common starlings can eat and damage fruit in the garden such as grapes, peaches, olives, raisins and tomatoes or digging newly sown grains and herbs. They can also eat animal feed and distribute the seeds through their droppings. In eastern Australia, weeds such as bridal creepers, blackberries and boneseed allegedly have been spread by common starlings. Agricultural damage in the US is estimated to cost about US $ 800 million per year. This bird is not considered to destroy agriculture in South Africa as in the United States.
The large size of herds of cattle can also cause problems. The usual starlings may be sucked into a jet engine, one of the worst examples of this incident in Boston in 1960, when sixty-two people died after a turboprop plane flew into a herd and crashed into the sea at Winthrop Harbor.
Starlings droppings can contain the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum , the cause of histoplasmosis in humans. In a perch location, this fungus can thrive in accumulated debris. There are a number of other infectious diseases that are potentially transmitted by the common starlings to humans, although the potential of birds to spread the infection may have been exaggerated.
Control
Due to the damage they do, there is an effort to control the number of indigenous populations and be introduced from the common starlings. In the range of natural breeding, this may be influenced by law. For example, in Spain, this is a commercially hunted species for food, and has a closed season, whereas in France, it is classified as a pest, and the season in which it can be killed covers most of the year. In Great Britain, Starling is protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Villages Act, which makes it "illegal to intentionally kill, injure or take starlings, or take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents". The Wildlife Order in Northern Ireland allows, under a general license, "the person authorized to control the starlings to prevent serious damage to agriculture or maintain public health and safety". These species migrate, so birds involved in control measures may come from large areas and breeding populations may be less affected. In Europe, multiple mobile laws and populations mean that control efforts may have limited long-term outcomes. Non-lethal techniques such as scare with visual or auditory devices have only temporary effects in any case.
Wandering in big cities in cities can create problems because of the noise and clutter created and the smell of dirt. In 1949, so many birds landed on London's stopping Big Ben watch, leading to a failed attempt to disrupt the roosts with nets, chemical repellents at the edges and broadcasts of ordinary alarm calls. An entire episode of The Goon Show in 1954 was a travesty of a futile attempt to disrupt the big common starlings in central London.
Where it is introduced, public starlings are not protected by law, and broad control plans can begin. Common starlings can be prevented from using a nest box by making sure the access hole is smaller than the 1.5Ã, 38 mm diameter they need, and the removal of the tengger prevents them from visiting the bird feeder.
Western Australia banned the importation of public starlings in 1895. New sheep arriving from the east were routinely shot, while cautious teenagers were caught and netted. New methods are being developed, such as tagging one bird and tracing it back to establish where other members of the herd are. Another technique is to analyze the DNA of a common Australian Starling population to track where migration from east to west Australia occurs so that a better prevention strategy can be used. In 2009, only 300 regular starlings remained in Western Australia, and the country committed to A $ 400,000 more that year to continue its eradication program.
In the United States, common starlings are released from the Migration Bird Agreement Act, which prohibits the taking or killing of migrant birds. No permission is required to dispose of nests and eggs or kill teenagers or adults. The research was conducted in 1966 to identify suitable avicide that would kill the common starlings and be easily eaten by them. It also needs low toxicity for mammals and is unlikely to cause death of pets that feed on dead poultry. The chemicals that best fit this criterion are DRC-1339, now marketed as Starlicide. In 2008, the United States government poisoned, shot or trapped 1.7 million birds, the largest number of species of disturbance that would be destroyed. In 2005, the population in the United States is estimated at 140 million birds, about 45% of the global total of 310 million.
In science and culture
Common starlings can be kept as pets or as laboratory animals. The Austrian etiologist Konrad Lorenz writes of them in his book The Ring of Solomon as "the dog of the poor" and "something to be loved", because the nest is easily obtained from the wild and after careful hand-hunting they are easy done to keep. They adapt well to captivity, and thrive on a standard bird feeding diet and mealworms. Some birds can be kept in the same cage, and their curiosity makes them easy to be trained or learned. The only disadvantage is the habit of defecation and indiscriminate defecation and the need to take precautions against diseases that may be transmitted to humans. As a laboratory bird, the common starlings are second only to domestic pigeons.
Starling's prize for mimicry has long been known. In the medieval Welsh of Mabinogion, Branwen tamed the common star, "taught him the words", and sent him to the Sea of ​​Ireland with a message to his brothers, Bran and Manawydan, who then sailed from Wales to Ireland for save him. Pliny the Elder claims that these birds can be taught to pronounce all sentences in Latin and Greek, and in Henry IV , William Shakespeare has declared Hotspur "The king forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer, but I will find he when he slept, and in his ears I would shout 'Mortimer!' No, I'll have the starlings to be taught to talk anything but Mortimer, and give it to him to keep his temper still moving. "
Mozart has an ordinary pet starling who can sing a part of his Piano Concert at G Major (KV 453). He bought it from the store after hearing it sing a sentence from a work he had written six weeks earlier, which had not been done in public. He became deeply attached to birds and arranged an elaborate burial for it when he died three years later. It has been suggested that the A Musical Joke (K. 522) may be written in a funny and unimportant style of vocalization. Other people who have had a common starlings report how adept they are in picking up phrases and phrases. Those words have no meaning for starlings, so they often mix it up or use it on what for humans is an inappropriate opportunity in their songs. Their ability in mimicry is so great that strangers seem futile to people they think they have just heard talking.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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