northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a picture of a European Starling from last autumn. These are generally the birds of murmuration fame [1]. In the picture this starling is in its winter (non-breeding) plumage. This consists of dark but speckled feathering; in breeding plumage they lose the speckles but gain a shiny look like this pair . Although we're used to many birds having breeding and non-breeding plumage, some birds like our European Starlings also change their beak color durinng the year. In warmer weather their beaks are a light yellowish color but in winter it becomes essentially black. It's possible that the black beak, containing beak-strengthening melanin , may help them crunch hard seeds during the winter. (In the summer they preferentially eat softer invertebrates.) Depending on the angle, their beaks can look fairly long. If someone who's not very bird-knowledgeable tells you they have a "black woodpecker" in their yard, they might really be seeing a starling [2]. Octob...

Here are a couple European Starlings . It's hard to tell the sex of starlings, so I can't tell you this is a potential breeding pair. This is their breeding plumage though, which is mostly black with a sheen to it. (Non-breeding plumage is lighter and more speckled.) This is an introduced species, and thus isn't overly popular in the birding and naturalist community. (Apparently they were introduced by fans of William Shakespeare who wanted Americans to be able to experience all the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare.) As sometimes happens, European Starlings are doing better here in North America than they're doing in their home range in Europe. They are known for their large, coordinated murmurations . March 3, 2021 at the Raritan River Greenway Photo 120274252, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)