29-9-2016 MALDON, ESSEX - EUROPEAN STARLING (JUVENILE) (Sturnus vulgaris)

The Common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.

The Сommon starling is a medium-sized bird. It has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of the year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer. Juveniles are grey-brown and by their first winter resemble adults though often retaining some brown juvenile feathering, especially on the head. They can usually be sexed by the color of the irises, rich brown in males, mouse-brown, or grey in females.

Common starlings are native to Eurasia and are found throughout Europe, northern Africa (from Morocco to Egypt), India (mainly in the north but regularly extending further south and extending into the Maldives) Nepal, the Middle East including Syria, Iran, and Iraq and north-western China. Common starlings in the south and west of Europe are mainly resident, although other populations migrate from regions where the winter is harsh. Most birds from northern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine migrate southwestwards or southeastwards. In the autumn, when immigrants are arriving from eastern Europe, many of Britain's common starlings are setting off for Iberia and North Africa. Common starlings prefer urban or suburban areas, reedbeds, grassy areas such as farmland, grazing pastures, playing fields, golf courses, and airfields where short grass makes foraging easy. They occasionally inhabit open forests and woodlands and are sometimes found in shrubby areas. These birds are also found in coastal areas, where they nest and roost on cliffs and forage amongst the seaweed.

Common starlings are highly gregarious birds, especially in autumn and winter when huge, noisy flocks may form near roosts. These birds move by walking or running, rather than hopping. Their flight is quite strong and direct; their triangular-shaped wings beat very rapidly, and periodically the birds glide for a short way without losing much height before resuming powered flight. When in a flock, starlings take off almost simultaneously, wheel and turn in unison, form a compact mass, or trail off into a wispy stream, bunch up again, and land in a coordinated fashion. Common starlings feed by day using three types of foraging behavior. "Probing" involves the bird plunging its beak into the ground randomly and repetitively until an insect has been found. "Hawking" is the capture of flying insects directly from the air, and "lunging" is the less common technique of striking forward to catch a moving invertebrate on the ground. Earthworms are caught by pulling from the soil.

Common starlings communicate with help of various calls that include a flock call, threat call, attack call, snarl call, and copulation calls. The alarm call is a harsh scream, and while foraging together Common starlings squabble incessantly. They chatter while roosting and bathing, making a great deal of noise that can cause irritation to people living nearby. Their song consists of a wide variety of both melodic and mechanical-sounding noises as part of a ritual succession of sounds. The songsters are more commonly male although females also sing on occasion.

Common starlings are both monogamous and polygynous; although broods are generally brought up by one male and one female, occasionally the pair may have an extra helper. Males may mate with a second female while the first is still in the nest. Breeding takes place during the spring and summer. Unpaired males find a suitable cavity and begin to build nests in order to attract single females, often decorating the nest with ornaments such as flowers and fresh green material.

The males sing throughout the construction and even more so when a female approaches his nest. After the pair was formed, the male and female continue to build the nest. Nests may be in any type of hole, common locations include inside hollowed trees, buildings, tree stumps, and man-made nest boxes. Nests are typically made out of straw, dry grass, and twigs with an inner lining made up of feathers, wool, and soft leaves. The female lays 4-5 eggs that are ovoid in shape and pale blue or occasionally white, and they commonly have a glossy appearance. Incubation lasts 13 days and both parents share the responsibility of brooding the eggs. The chicks are born blind and naked. They develop light fluffy down within 7 days of hatching and can see within 9 days. Nestlings remain in the nest for 3 weeks, where they are fed continuously by both parents. After leaving the nest fledglings continue to be fed by their parents for another 1 or 2 weeks. A pair can raise up to three broods per year, although two broods are typical. Within 2 months, most juveniles will have molted and gained their first basic plumage. They acquire their adult plumage the following year.