Show bird starling. Starling is a migratory bird

Those who have made a birdhouse at least once in their life probably know whether a starling is a migratory bird or not. These feathered messengers of spring begin to settle in their houses at the end of March. And even if the winter in the homeland of the birds turns out to be prolonged, the bad weather does not bother them. They chirp merrily, even if the snow is falling.

In order for birds to settle in your nesting box, you need to know what they are eating in order to add the right food to attract them. In our article, we will talk about how starlings winter, what they prefer to eat and how they raise their chicks.

Description of the appearance of the bird starling

The birds weigh only about 75 grams, their body length reaches 18-22 cm, and their wingspan is 39 cm. Outwardly, starlings are different:

1. Black plumage with a metallic sheen, which sheds and becomes brown in spring. Some subspecies of birds may have a bronze, purple, greenish or bluish tint of feathers.
2. Long and sharp beak slightly curved downward. He, like a chameleon, can change color during the mating season from black to yellow.
3. Large and strong brownish paws with curved claws.
4. Massive body.
5. Short neck.
6. A shortened tail.

Looking closely at the plumage of the starling, you can tell the female from the male... The male has lilac specks on its beak, and the female has red spots. In the male, feathers are elongated on the chest part of the body, while in the female they are short.

In addition to the common starling described above, there are several other species of this songbird in nature.

Pastor. The name of the bird is associated with its color. When a flock of these starlings fly from afar, it seems that a pink cloud is moving in the sky. Since individuals of this species feed mainly on locusts, they settle near semi-desert and desert plains and steppes. If there are no locusts, then they have to be content with other insects.

And yet they are trying to find pink starlings precisely for locusts, for which fly long distances... During the day, one bird eats about two hundred grams of insects, which is twice the weight of the starling itself.

The birds arrange nests between stones, in various burrows, in crevices of rocks. This type of bird is peaceful, so you will not see how they quarrel or fight.

Earring starling. The bird, inhabiting only in Africa, got its name for the fleshy growths that resemble earrings that form on the head of males during the breeding season. Birds build nests not in hollows, but on tree branches. From dry twigs they create a domed structure... Since starlings live in flocks, there can be several dozen such "houses" on one tree.

Earring starlings feed only on locusts. Therefore, chicks are hatched only at a time when insects stop near the nests for reproduction. As soon as the locust is removed from the place, the whole flock follows it.

Habitat

The songbird has settled in almost all parts of the world. It is widespread throughout Eurasia, New Zealand, Australia, North America, South America. Starlings lead a sedentary lifestyle in the west and south of Europe. And in the eastern and northern parts of it, where winters are colder, they are migratory, and fly away to winter south.

The starlings choose the plains as their habitat; they do not settle in the mountains at all. Birds prefer to live near rivers and swamps, but they are also found in the steppe or woodlands. Quite often, their nests can be seen near farms and human dwellings. Starlings can be colonized near the fields, using them as foraging territory. During breeding, birds need hollow trees or building niches.

Starling lifestyle

Huddling in flocks, starlings settle in small colonies. Sometimes you can see how several thousand individuals fly in unison, repeating turns one after another. Before landing, they hover, but on the ground scatter over a large area.

Birds also spend the night in groups. For spending the night, coastal areas densely populated with willow or reeds are chosen. You can find them sitting at night on the branches of bushes and trees in city parks and gardens. In places where starlings fly to winter, it is simply impossible to count the number of individuals sleeping together. It seems that there are more than a million of them.

During the breeding season, the birds adhere to their small territory, which is protected from other birds. At this time, they feed on the side of the nest, looking for food on the banks of rivers, sown areas, vegetable gardens, the outskirts of villages.

In relation to other species of birds starlings are very aggressive, and are able to compete for a suitable nest site. For example, in Europe, green woodpeckers and rolling rollers become victims of this behavior. In the United States, starlings compete for a place with the red-headed woodpecker, which they literally ousted from its nesting sites.

According to researchers, the songbird has a lifespan of about 12 years in the wild.

These birds are omnivorous, therefore they can eat both plant food and food of animal origin. In early spring, the starlings that flew from wintering willingly eat earthworms, which crawl to the surface as soon as the sun warms up. In addition, they feast on the larvae of various insects wintering in the bark of trees.

In summer, the diet of starlings is:

Despite the fact that by eating caterpillars and other insects, birds save fields and gardens from pests, they can also cause serious harm. Vineyards, gardens and fields are a favorite feeding place for birds, therefore crops are often threatened... They are even able to split the tough skin that protects some of the fruits. To do this, the starling inserts its beak into a small hole, and gradually begins to unclench it. As a result, the fruit is opened and its contents are made available.

Reproduction

Soon after arrival, the mating season begins for starlings, the duration of which depends on the food supply and weather conditions. In the southern hemisphere, the beginning of the breeding season is in September, and in the northern hemisphere in March.

In Asian and European populations throughout the season, females can lay eggs three times:

1. The first clutch begins at the same time in all surrounding birds and contains from six to ten eggs.
2. The second clutch is associated with such a feature of starlings as "polygamy".
3. The third clutch begins forty - fifty days after the first and again passes in all individuals at the same time.

After wintering, males are the first to arrive at their place of permanent habitation. They immediately begin to look for a place for a future nest, which may be a hollow, a birdhouse or a hole in the wall of a building. Having chosen a dwelling, the starlings sit down near it and begin to sing, thereby attracting females and informing them that the place is taken.

A few days later, females arrive, and after a while pairs form, which immediately start to equip the nest... To do this, both parents collect leaves, stems, roots, feathers and down from other birds, from which they make bedding.

Males can take care of several females at the same time, fertilizing first one, and after a while the second female.

The eggs of starlings are light blue in color and reach a width of 21 mm and a length of 31 mm. They weigh only 6.6 grams. The female incubates eggs. However, from time to time it is replaced by a starling. After eleven - thirteen days, helpless chicks are born.

In the early days, young animals behave noiselessly. The fact that the starlings have offspring can only be recognized by the shells from the eggs thrown out of the nest. Both parents feed the chicks at the same time. While they are looking for food, babies are left alone in the nest... Young animals feed mainly only in the mornings and evenings. During the day, the number of parental absences for food can reach several dozen times.

In the early days, chicks eat only soft food. Over time, they begin to feed on already tougher insects, which include large caterpillars, beetles and grasshoppers. Small snails can also be included in the diet of babies.

In 21-23 days after the birth, the grown chicks leave the nest, however, the parents continue to feed them for several more days. If the baby is scared and does not want to fly out of the nest, adult starlings lure them out with the help of various tricks. Most often, they fly around the nest with food in their beak.

Enemies of starlings

Crows and magpies harm starlings by bust their nests... Peregrine falcons, eagles and golden eagles are a big threat to small birds. Predatory animals hunt for chicks and eggs, making their way through the trees to the nests.

Although starlings can harm crops, they are certainly more beneficial to humans. Back in the 18th century in Russia, birds were specially attracted to their gardens and vegetable gardens so that they would eat harmful insects. And those who killed starlings or ravaged their nests were considered criminals.

Starlings are one of the most common passerine birds, in any case, everyone has heard a lot about ordinary starlings, but few people know what other species of these birds exist. Starlings belong to the starling family of the same name, which has 100 species, in addition to them, myna and dragons also belong to this family.

Common starling (Sturnus vulgaris).

Starlings are medium-sized birds (for passerines), body length is 20 cm on average, weight is about 100 g. The beak of these birds is straight and sharp, medium-sized, wings of moderate length, and the tail is straight, long in many species. In general, starlings have a fairly dense build, thick and hard plumage.

Long-tailed lustrous starling (Lamprotornis purpuropterus).

The color of most species is dark, some parts of the body can be painted white, pink. It is characteristic that the dark areas of plumage in these birds are often cast with a metallic sheen, the brilliant starlings are the record holder in this respect. As their name suggests, these birds shimmer like precious stones.

Tricolor glittering starling, or tricolor spray (Lamprotornis superbus).

The color of common starlings also causes a lot of controversy: many believe that these birds are pure black, others claim that the starlings are streaked. In fact, both sides are right, just new feathers after molting have light tips and at this time an ordinary starling looks variegated, on old feathers the tips are erased and then the bird looks pure black. Sexual dimorphism in starlings is weakly expressed: males are slightly larger than females and sometimes more brightly colored.

Starlings are the original inhabitants of the Old World, here they inhabit all climatic zones of Europe, Asia and Africa (except for the polar ones). True, in the nineteenth century, starlings were brought to North America, where they multiplied and turned into aggressive invaders, displacing native bird species. All methods of controlling them have not yielded results, and now starlings in North America dominate anthropogenic landscapes.

All species of starlings prefer to settle in sparse forests, groves, savannas, shrubs with areas of herbaceous vegetation.

Also, these birds willingly settle next to humans: they are ordinary inhabitants of gardens, city parks, farms. Most starlings are sedentary birds, but they tend to migrate (especially in dry years in steppes and semi-deserts). Species of the temperate zone (common, pink starling) are migratory, they winter in the vicinity of other species in Africa and South Asia.

In the spring, starlings are among the first to arrive, when the snow has not melted yet.

Characteristically, as schooling birds, starlings can also be found in separate pairs. The sizes of their flocks also vary greatly - from small groups of 10-15 individuals to multi-million-strong hordes. These birds are very friendly to their fellows, there are no fights between them, and the starling notifies the whole flock of danger or found food. All types of starlings are distinguished by a sharp, loud voice, they are generally big fans of shouting. By the way, many species of starlings borrow the sounds of their songs from environment, therefore, in their songs you can hear the voices of different birds, the sounds of a motor, the squeal of a saw. With prolonged maintenance at home, starlings are quite capable of learning human speech. True, unlike parrots, starlings do not use these sounds meaningfully (for communication), but simply sing.

A flock of tricolor glittering starlings: young brown-colored ones are visible among adult birds.

In nature, starlings are very mobile, their noisy flocks are in constant search of food, and the birds themselves behave boldly and even impudently. So, in the spring, starlings often drive smaller birds (sparrows, for example) out of already occupied nesting sites, a flock of these birds is capable of attacking a larger predator (owl, crow), but provided that the flock is really large. Solitary birds or small groups do not dare to such actions. The flight of starlings is fast and maneuverable, when the whole flock rises into the sky, it seems as if a giant cloud has come to life. On branches and stems, they move in leaps, deftly clinging to the stems with their paws, they walk slowly on the ground.

Amethyst short-tailed starling (Cinnyricinclus leucogaster).

Starlings feed mainly on animal food: orthoptera insects (grasshoppers, locusts) and their larvae, earthworms, slugs. During a massive invasion of locusts, they feed exclusively on it. At the same time, starlings willingly peck berries and fruits, for this reason they love to settle in gardens so much. When densely populated, starlings can ruin the entire crop (you probably have seen cherries, cherries with bites). Sometimes starlings can rob and eat eggs of small birds, lizards, mice.

Berry-eating pink starling (Sturnus roseus).

Starlings are monogamous birds, males and females form a pair for the entire breeding season, but they do not remain faithful to their partner for a long time (the partner may be different for the next season). Reproduction in migratory species begins early; already in April, starlings seize nesting sites and use songs to mark the boundaries of their territory. These birds are surprisingly unpretentious in choosing nesting sites: nests can be located in crevices of rocks, old or already occupied nests of other birds (in this case, the owners are expelled), under the roofs of houses, in artificial structures. No wonder artificial nests are called birdhouses, because it is the starlings who are the first to show interest in them. The nest tray is lined with soft grass, feathers of other birds, and the hair of molting animals. The female lays 4-7 white, greenish or pale blue eggs and incubates them for 2-3 weeks. The male does not take part in incubation, but provides his girlfriend with food.

An ordinary starling carries out the droppings of chicks in its beak.

After hatching, the chicks are fed by both parents. Being voracious birds, during breeding, starlings triple their appetites. They bring food to the brood 100-300 times a day! At the same time, the total mass of food is 2-3 times greater than the mass adult... Chicks grow very quickly and leave the nest in 15-20 days.

Young common starlings are grayish-brown and have worn this outfit for almost a year.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, starlings are not limited to one clutch and, after breeding, nest again. At the end of the nesting season, old birds with young birds unite in noisy flocks and wander together.

Red-winged long-tailed starling (Onychognathus morio).

In nature, day and night birds of prey (owls, falcons, etc.) hunt starlings; wild cats, martens, snakes can destroy their nests. However, starlings compensate for such losses with high fertility. The relationship of these birds with humans is twofold. In the old days, starlings were universally loved as the earliest songbirds, so they were often caught for keeping in cages. By the way, they perfectly tolerate captivity, behave actively, sing a lot and live at home for a long time. Starlings bring considerable benefits to humans by destroying many pests (locusts, May beetles, slugs). It is especially important that starlings search for food on the ground, therefore they eat insects in the larval stage, which greatly reduces the harm they cause. But in Lately Starlings are increasingly damaging orchards and vineyards by destroying crops or damaging fruits and berries that make the product unusable. The massive use of pesticides has negated the benefits of starlings, and farmers are increasingly looking for ways to control these birds. Traps, nets, scarecrows, sound recordings with screams are used birds of prey and the birds of prey themselves alive (tamed falcons are released on starling flocks), but all these means bring only a temporary effect. This is an unnecessary reminder to a person about how easy and how dangerous it is to disrupt the natural balance, and how difficult it is to deal with its consequences.

A flock of thousands of starlings is a common sight in anthropogenic landscapes.

The songbird is famous for its singing, in which the sound range resembles the sound of lard in a heated dish. Hence the name, which allegorically conveys crackling, hissing with a smack. In the Czech Republic, the starling is called spachek, translated as "fat".

The feathered imitator of sounds is diverse in its talent. Even a cat's meow can be heard in the flying flock. Spring starling not as ordinary as many think.

Description and features

Bird starling small size, it is often compared in appearance to the blackbird. The length of a bird is no more than 22 cm, weight is about 75 g, wingspan is about 37-39 cm.The body is massive, with dark plumage shining in the sun with small specks light color, more noticeable in the spring in females. A scattering of white or cream spots is especially evident during the molting period, later the plumage becomes almost uniform.

The tail of the birds is short, only 6-7 cm. The color includes a metallic sheen. The effect is achieved thanks not to the pigment present, but to the actual design of the feathers. Depending on the angle, lighting, the color of the plumage changes shades.

Have different types starlings ebb in the sun can be purple, bronze, green, blue. The legs of birds are always reddish-brown, with curved claws.

The bird's head is proportional to the body, the neck is short. The beak is very sharp, long, slightly curved downward, flattened from the sides, black, but in the mating season it changes color to yellow. The chicks have only a brown-black beak. Their youth is given by rounded wings, a light neck and the absence of a metallic gloss in their color.

There are slight differences between females and males. You can recognize the male by lilac specks on the beak and long feathers on the chest, and the female by red spots, short feathers of an elegant shape. The flight of starlings is smooth and fast.

Singing starlings differ from blackbirds by their ability to run on the ground, and not jump. You can recognize a starling by the manner of singing - he often shakes his wings during the performance of the part.

• orioles;
• quail;
• jays;
• lark;
• swallows;
• warblers;
• bluethroats;
• thrush;
• duck, rooster and chicken, etc.

More than once we observed starlings that arrived in the spring and sang with the voices of tropical birds. The birds reproduce the creak of a gate, the clatter of a typewriter, the clicking of a whip, the bleating of sheep, the croaking of marsh frogs, the meow of cats, and a dog barking.

Singing starling framed by the shrill squealing of his own voice. Adult birds “accumulate” their repertoire and generously share their luggage.

Lifestyle and habitat

The songbird is known in the vast territory of Eurasia, South Africa, Australia. The resettlement took place thanks to man. The starling is found in Turkey, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran. Rooting of starlings was difficult in Central and South America. Many birds died, but some took root there too.

Information about which starling, migratory or wintering bird, depends on their distribution. The birds living in the south-west of Europe are sedentary, and common in the northeastern part are migratory, always flying south in winter.

Seasonal migrations typical for starlings of Belgium, Holland, Poland, Russia. Flights of the first batches begin in September and end by November. For winter quarters, birds move to the southern regions of Europe, to India, and the northwestern regions of Africa.

Brave birds cover distances from 100 to 1-2 thousand kilometers. Birds need 1-2 stops during the day. Flights over the seas are always associated with great risk. An entire flock of birds can be killed by a hurricane.

Sometimes starlings find salvation on sea vessels, descending on decks in huge numbers. According to superstitious omens and beliefs of sailors, the death of even one bird on the ship threatens to be flooded. Starlings are always under the protection of those at sea.

Birds that have flown in from afar are not always welcome because of the noise they create. So, the inhabitants of Rome close their windows in the evenings so as not to hear the crackling chirping of birds, which is even louder than the sounds of passing cars. Starlings in winter gather in huge colonies, numbering more than a million individuals.

Starlings can gather in numerous flocks

In the spring, in March and early April, during the active melting of snow, the first inhabitants who returned home appear. In the northern regions, they can be seen at the end of April or in May. If the birds have returned, and the cold does not recede, then many are in danger of death.

The first to appear are males, choosing places for future nesting. Females arrive a little later. During the mating season, birds look for trees with old hollows for arranging nests or occupy niches various buildings.

Starling in spring very fighting, active. He does not stand on ceremony with other birds, aggressively reclaims a site convenient for nesting, survives neighbors. There are known cases of crowding out of red-headed woodpeckers and rolling rollers in their homes.

The starlings themselves also have enough enemies. They are tasty prey for peregrine falcons, eagles, golden eagles. Nests are often ruined by earthly predators, even crows and magpies are not averse to feasting on eggs and nestlings of starlings.

Birds are sociable among themselves, live in colonies. Numerous flocks of starlings can be seen in flight, where they simultaneously hover, turn around and land, loosely capturing large territories on the ground.

Spend the nights in groups in dense thickets of reeds, willows of coastal zones, on the branches of garden or park bushes, trees.

The habitat of starlings is flat areas with swamps, rivers and other bodies of water. Nesting birds are found in woodlands, steppe zones, near human settlements, farm buildings.

Birds are attracted by field lands as potential food supplies. Starlings avoid mountainous areas, uninhabited territories. Human activity provides birds with food.

Sometimes massive raids of starlings cause damage to grain crops, berry fields. Large flocks can threaten flight safety. Yet people have always appreciated the singers for the destruction of field pests: beetles, caterpillars, locusts, slugs, gadflies. Setting up birdhouses has always been an invitation for birds to visit farmland.

Views

Scientists argue about the taxonomy of starling subspecies, since small differences in plumage and size can be difficult to determine by the appearance of the bird. There are 12 main varieties, the most famous in our country are the common starling (shpak), small starling, gray and Japanese (red-cheeked). Characteristic appearance with striking features starlings differ:

• pink;
• earring;
• Indian (myna);
• buffalo (dragging);
• black-winged.

Pastor got its name because of its characteristic color. Pink breast, abdomen, sides, back framed by black wings, head, neck create a spectacular outfit for a spring bird. Starling in the photo as if in a festive dress. The movement of a flock of pink birds is like a floating pink cloud. The main food of these birds is locusts.

One bird needs almost 200 g of insects per day, which is twice the weight of the starling itself. Birds settle near semi-desert plains and steppes, and nest in rock crevices, burrows, rocky shelters. Pink starlings are unusually peaceful, there are no bird fights between them.

The earring (horned) starling lives exclusively in Africa. It got its name for the fleshy growths on the heads of males that appear during the breeding season. The growths resemble cockscombs in appearance.

This species nests on tree branches, creating domed houses. Schools of cattle starlings feed only on locusts, therefore they follow it if the insects are removed from their place. The color of starlings is predominantly gray.

Indian starling (myna). The Asian bird is also sometimes called the Afghan starling. All names are associated with a wide distribution of birds. The color of the plumage is dominated by black, but the end of the tail and the leading edge of the wing with a white edging.

The bird's beak, "glasses" around the eyes and legs are yellow. Maina is gradually settling, capturing new territories. We met the bird in Kazakhstan and other places in Central Asia. The mockingbird talent made myna popular in urban environments, and many began to keep starlings in their home environment. The bird's charm and sociability contribute to the further spread of the Indian starling.

Indian starling or myna

Buffalo starlings (dragging). African sedentary birds Brown color with a fan-shaped tail. You can recognize these starlings by their orange eyes and red beak. They are irreplaceable orderlies of wild and domestic animals.

Starlings survey bodies like woodpeckers, trunks, hanging upside down on their belly or sneaking into tight folds on the body. The animals do not offer resistance, knowing that the pecking of the birds will only benefit them.

Black-winged starlings. Endemic islands in Indonesia, savannah inhabitants. Rare representatives listed in the Red Book due to human extermination. Black-winged starlings were caught for sale for home keeping, thereby exterminating the population in nature.

The contrasting color of the bird is unusual: the white plumage of the body and head is combined with black wings and tail. On the top of the head there is a small tuft of feathers. The yellowish skin frames the eyes, the legs and beak are the same color. It dwells mainly on pastures for livestock, agricultural land, and keeps away from human habitation. In search of food, it makes nomadic flights.

Currently, the bird is kept in protected areas of reserves, where starlings do not refuse to borrow prepared birdhouses for nesting. But their number is still very small.

Food

Skvortsov are considered omnivorous birds, in the diet of which both plant and animal food. The following organisms are the source of proteins for birds:

• snails;
• caterpillars;
• insect larvae;
• butterflies;
• earthworms;
• grasshoppers;
• spiders;
• symphiles.

In the spring, immediately after the snow melts, starlings find food on thawed patches, in secluded wintering places of insects - in cracks in the bark of trees. With warming, the hunt for arthropods and worms begins.

In plant foods, starlings prefer berries and fruits. There are always a lot of birds in apple and cherry orchards, they will not give up ripe plums and pears.

It is interesting that birds open the tough peel or shell of nuts according to all the laws of physics - they punch a small hole, insert the beak and open the fruit according to the rule of a lever to get to the contents. In addition to juicy fruits, starlings use plant seeds and grain crops.

Starlings can do damage agriculture, if huge flocks begin to master the field lands. Messengers of spring are moderately useful for planting, but the columns of birds become a threat to future crops.

Reproduction and life expectancy

The mating season opens in early spring in sedentary birds, migratory birds start mating after returning home. The duration of nesting depends on weather conditions, food supply. In some regions, birds lay eggs three times per season due to the polygyny of starlings.

Starling chicks

Starling nest can be found in the old hollow, former buildings of large birds - herons, white-tailed eagles. Ready-made birdhouses also live in. The female is summoned by a special singing.

Starlings form several pairs during the season, caring for several chosen ones at once. Both future parents are engaged in construction. Feathers, twigs, wool, leaves, roots serve as the material for the litter.

Each clutch contains 4-7 blue eggs. Incubation lasts 12-13 days. The male sometimes replaces the female during this period. The nesting area is carefully guarded within a radius of 10 meters. Food is found far from the place of incubation - on the shores of reservoirs, in populated areas, vegetable gardens, fields.

Starling laying in the nest

The appearance of chicks is almost silent, you can learn about the offspring by the shells thrown to the ground. To feed the newborns, both parents fly away for food. In the first days of life, chicks eat soft food, later they switch to hard insects.

The growing chicks develop in the nest for 21-23 days, then they begin to gain independence, stray into small flocks. If a starling chick in no hurry to grow up, the parents lure him out of the nest with food.

IN natural conditions the life of a starling under favorable conditions lasts up to 12 years. Russian scientists have documented this. In a home environment with good care birds live even longer.

Many give birth to starlings and easily tame birds that lose their fear of humans. They take food from their palms, sit on their shoulders, observe what is happening close to a person. Pets in communication easily imitate human voices, reproduce other sounds.

The habitat of the common starling is extremely wide: it is distributed in all biogeographic areas, excluding the central and South America... The bird is unpretentious in food (omnivorous) and choice of habitat. The common starling lives throughout Europe - up to the Arctic Circle in the north and Greece in the south. In the cold season, starlings fly from the northern regions to warm countries: Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria. Birds from the south of Europe are sedentary - it makes no sense for them to leave their native lands.

Where do starlings live?

Starlings never climb high in the mountains and live only in flat areas, in swamps, steppes, coastal areas. Usually these birds settle in deciduous forests near a reservoir, clearings and fields, where they look for food, and nest in tree holes. If there is no hollow, the starlings will find another home.

Starlings get along well with people and are found in rural areas near farms and in larger settlements. Sown fields become the feeding area for starlings, and houses and other buildings become nesting areas.

Building a nest

During the breeding season, starlings look for a place to nest. They choose closed places for their home and willingly settle on artificially created nesting sites. As soon as they find a suitable place, they begin to sing loud cheerful songs near it.

Starlings nest in pairs or colonies. The female is engaged in the construction of the nest. The male helps: he brings building material - dry grass, branches and other "necessary garbage". Starlings spread the cavity of the hollow with a soft bedding of their grass and feathers.

Starling chicks are born helpless. In the first days of life, they behave silently so that no one finds their location. Male and female absent for food and leave the babies alone. Therefore, the place for the nest must be chosen carefully by the parent birds. Few starling species nest on open area, arranging ball-shaped nests with a side entrance on the ground.

Favorite nesting places

Birds easily adapt to new conditions and can build nests anywhere. In fact, all kinds of voids are suitable for the starling. Starlings choose tree hollows, building niches, cracks in rocks, and steep banks as places for building a nest. They are not afraid of close proximity to people: the starling's nest can be found under the balcony or roof of the building. Starlings are also friendly with other birds - their houses can be found in the bases of large nests of birds of prey.

Birdhouses made by humans are ideal for starlings. It is thanks to the birdhouses that these birds have become so widespread. For centuries, people have attracted starlings to the house, which destroyed harmful insects in gardens and vegetable gardens. Starlings settled near stables and farmyards, destroying blood-sucking insects - horseflies, flies, gadflies. This neighborhood benefited the starlings, and their habitat continues to expand.

Shpak are extraordinary

The whole territory of Belarus

Family Starling - Sturnidae.

In Belarus - S. v. vulgaris.

Common breeding and transit migratory migrant, occasionally hibernates in small numbers. In Belarus, it is found throughout the territory.

A well-known bird. Age-related dimorphism in plumage coloration is noticeably expressed. The adult bird is black in spring with a green and purple metallic sheen; the tops of the dorsal side feathers are brown, the beak is bright yellow, the legs are orange-red. In wintering individuals, the underside of the body is covered with white streaks, which disappear by spring. Young starlings, after emergence from nests and until autumn, have a uniform grayish-brown color with a lighter throat and dark gray beak. Male weight 54-104 g, female 68-101 g. Body length (both sexes) 21.5-23 cm, wingspan 37-42 cm. Male wing length 11.5-13.5 cm, tail 6-7, 5 cm, tarsus 2.5-3.5 cm, beak 2-3 cm.Wing length of females 12-13 cm, tail 5.5-7 cm, tarsus 2.5-3.5 cm, beak 2-3 cm ...

Most of our starlings nest in settlements - in villages, on farms, in summer cottages and even small towns. Here birds inhabit specially hung board houses - birdhouses. In addition, starlings often settle (close to human settlements) in light dry and floodplain forests, groves, stands along rivers, where the presence of hollows is the main nesting condition.

In the spring these birds arrive and fly in transit among the first - in March, and in the south of the republic sometimes already at the end of February. Arrival dates vary quite a bit depending on weather conditions in spring. During spring migration, starlings fly in a wide front, in small (10-40 individuals) flocks at an altitude of 50-70 m, adhering to river floodplains.

For some time after arrival, starlings keep in flocks. They spend the night on the edges of the forest, in the reed beds in the floodplains of rivers, fish farms, lakes, reservoirs, gathering in the evening on the trees dominating in height. 40–60 minutes before dark, flocks of birds of 60–100 or more individuals flew from the surrounding areas. The number of sleeping birds ranged from 8 to 15 thousand.

Early in the morning, they scatter around the city and its environs in search of food. Massive nights of starlings continue until the onset of the breeding season, which in different years comes in early March - early April.

With the arrival of females, pairs are formed, flocks break up. Pairs of birds occupy birdhouses and hollows, and males announce their presence with a rather loud song, a characteristic feature of which is the predominance of various stanzas borrowed from other birds, as well as imitations of other sounds - creaking of a door, crackling of a motor, various clicks, etc. While singing, the male, sitting on a branch, shakes his wings. Singing continues until the end of May.

Breeds in pairs or in small groups. In some cases, the settlements can have the character of a colony (up to 70 pairs), although the birds do not tolerate too close proximity of other pairs. In most cases, a starling for nesting occupies a birdhouse, often settles in natural hollows of conifers and deciduous trees(pine, aspen, poplar, willow, oak, linden, alder), as well as in hollows, hollowed out most often by the great spotted woodpecker or other species of woodpeckers average size... Most willingly it occupies a hollow with a tap hole about 47 mm in diameter, into which it barely penetrates. Sometimes nests in voids and niches of stone and wooden buildings, under roofs (especially from slate), occasionally in the walls of nests of large birds (storks, some raptors).

The height of the location of the hollow or the birdhouse does not really matter. However, the most preferred are hollows located at a height of at least 3 m from the ground. Both members of the pair are involved in the construction of the nest. At the same time, the nesting chamber is abundantly lined with dry, often rather coarse, grass stalks, short straws (fresh or semi-rotten), and wool. A large number of feathers of domestic and wild birds are laid on top. Such a nest is a jumbled heap of various building material... In the nests of storks and large birds of prey, nests of starlings are almost spherical in shape with a side entrance. Nest diameter (lit.) 14.5 cm; tray depth 6 cm, diameter 9 cm.

In full clutch 4-7 (usually 5-6), in rare cases up to 8 eggs. The shell is slightly shiny, one color, bright, light or greenish blue, without spots. Egg weight 7 g, length 29 mm (27-31 mm), diameter 21 mm (20-22 mm).

Fresh clutches appear in the second half of April - early May. The nesting cycle of reproduction from the laying of the first egg to the emergence of chicks from the nest is 38–40 days. The maximum difference in the breeding time of individual birds does not exceed 30–35 days. As a rule, one brood per year. In the south of the republic, some pairs of starlings hatch two broods a year, but this phenomenon is not widespread. Moreover, late broods in the south of Belarus are relatively rare and there is no convincing evidence that the same pair of starlings makes two clutches a year.

The female lays one egg per day. Both birds incubate for 12-15 days, but the male to a much lesser extent. On the 3rd day, the chicks open the auditory canals, on the 7th - the eyes. First, the male feeds, later the female and the male carry the food to the chicks. The departure of young birds from the nest is carried out on the 21-22nd day of life.

The parents feed the juveniles for about 10 more days.

After that, broods unite in flocks, starting to lead a nomadic lifestyle: they fly to feed on pastures and harvested fields, and usually spend the night among the branches of bushes or in dense crowns of trees, and sometimes in reed thickets. Adult birds are also present in flocks of underyearlings. In addition, flocks of nomadic birds are found in April - the first half of May, which consist mainly of single non-nesting individuals.

Sexual maturity in starlings occurs at the age of one year. According to some reports, most of the starlings do not start breeding at the age of one year. In addition, some adult birds do not participate in breeding due to the lack of suitable nesting sites, unfavorable weather conditions and other factors.

In July - August there are hundreds of starling flocks. With the first cold snap in September, the starlings return to their nests and singing birds can be seen at their houses. It is believed that local birds are returning to the nesting boxes. They are shown in the fall only in the mornings, and their singing is like a lingering whistle, less melodic than in spring. Returning to nesting sites in autumn is a regular occurrence.

Since not all birds return to the nesting boxes, it can be assumed that some of them begin to move for wintering in September, the other - from October until late frosts. Most of the birds migrate in the second half of September. Sometimes wintering of this species is observed in our country, and wintering starlings stay, as a rule, in settlements. This happens very rarely and irregularly, more often in the south of the republic.

Valery Kiselyov, Gomel