European Starling

This rather odd-plumaged bird is a young European Starling that Erika and I saw on 21 July 2020 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge. The salient field marks include its sharp-pointed bill and speckled sides—otherwise it does not look like a speckled, shiny black adult. Unlike House Sparrows, which were introduced to multiple North American locations, all the 200 million Starlings on this continent are descended from 100 birds released in New York City in 1890 and 1891. The starling’s “phenomenal” success, however, has been detrimental to many native cavity-nesting species (Cabe 2020).