Once restricted to Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia, the European starling, Sturnis vulgaris, is now nearly worldwide in distribution. Starlings belong to a family of birds called the Sturnidae that includes over a hundred species. Newly hatched birds are an uninspiring mouse brown with dark bills until the fall molt. New feathers poke out with white tips, giving them a speckled appearance for part of the year. Adult animals strut about with a predominantly black cloak of feathers, shimmering with green and purple iridescence.
Starlings are consummate opportunists.
Starlings love to eat insects, which is good, because most people haven't acquired a taste for the six-legged critters and many insects are grain consumers that most farmers could do without. However, their insect consumption has not compensated many farmers and feedlot operators for loss of grain and the spread of certain diseases. Starlings were introduced to the western world by Eugene Schefflin in 1890 and 1891 as a tribute to the artistry of William Shakespeare. Schefflin wanted to import to American soil populations of every bird mentioned by the Bard. Though not immediately successful, some starling pairs finally managed to nest in Central Park, perhaps on the eaves of the American Museum of Natural History itself.