She lays four to six eggs, which are an unmarked pale bluish green. Both parents incubate the eggs, and they hatch after about 12 days. The nestlings are fed by both parents and leave the nest three weeks after hatching. Often they drive native birds from their nests, including woodpeckers, nuthatches, great crested flycatchers, tree swallows, house wrens and bluebirds. Harassment by starlings may have caused recent declines in populations of the northern flicker and red-headed woodpecker.
Starlings feed in flocks and roost together at night.
In late summer and fall, their roosts may contain thousands of birds. Of the starlings that are alive in January, about half die in the coming year, with one third of the deaths happening in January and February. The average adult's life span is one and a half years.