Starlings

Recently we went to Avalon Marshes in the Somerset Levels to see starling murmurations, and I was inspired by the very number of them. Truth be told, I don't think I've ever seen so many birds in one place in my life! How, I wondered, do they not crash straight into each other, and why do they murmurate?

I set out to research the life of starlings, from egg to adulthood, and here's what I learned.

In the nest

Starlings tend to nest in holes, they normally choose natural holes and tree cavities but they will also accept underneath roof tiles, in walls, and in nest boxes. (Starling nest boxes are the easiest to make, place them high up and facing north or east, as this stops it getting too hot in the sun) The eggs weigh 7g (approximately) and are laid in clutches of 4-6 and are whitish blue in colour. The incubation period is 12 days and the fledgling period is 21 days (3 weeks) after hatching. After fledging, the young birds will stay with their parents until they can fend for themselves.

Birds of a feather flock together

During the winter time, we (the U.K.) get a lot more starlings since birds migrate here from colder areas, such as Scandinavia. Once here, the Scandinavian starlings will mix with the U.K. starling population and they will roost, feed and fly together. As the days draw to a close, large numbers will come together and fly in a cloud of starlings before suddenly dropping into the reeds to roost for the night. We call this spectacular sight a murmuration of starlings.

Whilst I was watching this amazing swarm of starlings, I wondered how they never crashed into each other. It is hypothesized that as starlings murmurate they watch the seven birds closest to them; if they watched fewer birds then they would crash into each other due to too little guidance. However, if they watched more than seven birds, then they would be processing too much information at once for their brain size; their mind might be lightning fast but it's not as fast as that!

Diet of a starling

Starlings are omnivorous and eat worms, insects, snails, seeds, sometimes flying ants, various nuts and berries and wild bird food such as peanuts and fatballs. (I still remember when I was little, seeing loads of starlings on the bird feeders. My mother never used to like it when they came along. She said that they ate too much.)

Murmuration of starlings. Photo my own, all rights reserved.

At the roost

At Avalon Marshes, starlings tend to roost in reedbeds for safety in numbers where few predators can reach them across the waters. An hour or so before sunset, the whole flock will quit feeding and gather to murmurate. No one actually knows why they do this. But they do. After an hour or so of doing this, they will come down into the reedbeds and roost for the night. In the morning they will all come out of those reeds at the same time, which makes quite an impressive sight.

Starlings at the roost. Photo my own, all rights reserved.

What noises can starlings make and why?

The starling voice box is more complicated than most birds, with more muscles than the "normal" songbird, meaning they can make soo many sounds, such as human voices and even machinery. Their chest, throat and abdominal (that means their tummy) muscles are strong and can be controlled very well indeed, hence the ability to mimic complicated sounds. Bird experts have researched this, and found that starlings are more able to mimic sounds after only a few times of hearing them and detect small differences in frequencies and sound structure, unlike the "normal" songbirds. Not only that, their brains are good at studying sounds, and they can pick up on all the slight differences of other sounds. Starlings mimic for several reasons, such as mate attractions, territory defense and to keep predators away. Starlings can mimic a lot of different noises such as other bird calls, human speech, telephone rings, car alarms, dog and cat noises and mechanical sounds; printers, microwaves, chainsaws and the like.

I conclude that..

After researching into these amazing little birds, I have decided that I like starlings and I hope my family will go to see more murmurations in the future. I will also try to persuade my mother to not chase them off her fat balls!!