### animal | vertebrate | bird:

Starling
* Most starlings adapt to environments
  - eat food
  - enter nests
  - has-part tails
* Most starlings have beaks
  - diameters
  - feathers
  - make nests
  - possess feathers
  - take flight
* Some starlings are located on nests
  - compete with birds
* Some starlings eat beetles
  - berries
  - even line their nests with foliage that has insect-repellant properties
  - have predators
  - kill pests
* Some starlings live in areas
  - fields
  - make broods
  - play in trees
  - sit in trees
* Some starlings sit on eggs
  - poles
* also eat fruit, seeds and suet at bird feeders, and food scraps
  - livestock rations and food found in garbage during the winter
  - feed at urban and suburban bird feeders
  - have a visual capacity that is thought to have evolved along with their special beak
* are a dark chunky, muscular bird
  - major nuisance in urban areas due to their nestling, eating and living habits
  - about five inches tall
  - active, social birds who love spending time with their owners
* are also city dwellers though, fond of roosting and nesting on or inside buildings
  - fond of earthworms
  - among the fastest flying birds
  - colonial breeders
  - common throughout Britain
  - considered a nuisance species in North America
  - consummate opportunists
  - extremely aggressive birds that drive other species from nest sites they want to use
  - generally monogamous, but can be polygamous
  - intelligent and adaptable, and are capable mimics
  - much smaller, have stubby tails, and can be spotted
  - non-native invasive birds, and are serious nest site competitors for native birds
  - normally absent only from heavily wooded areas, deserts, and areas above timberline
  - omnivores but are close to being insectivores
  - rather chunky birds, about eight inches long, with short square tails
  - reluctant to perch upside down
  - remarkable mimics
  - sedentary in western Europe, where large numbers gather from eastern Europe
  - such a pest and harmful to our native birds
* are the deadliest nest competitors for martins
  - most common species of bird found on the East Coast
  - unable to hang upside down for long
  - very gregarious birds, flocking at all times with other starlings
  - widespread throughout all of North America and are common in cities
* are, in fact, very clean birds.
* being able to change their diets is one reason they are common.
* belong to the family of birds which includes vocal mimics known as myna birds.
* build all different types of nests and some look like a very nice oversized bluebird nest
  - bulky, untidy nests
* can be a major problem for livestock producers in the northern Plains in the winter
  - easily kill sparrows
  - even drive woodpeckers away from newly excavated holes
  - live almost anywhere, in any climate
  - withstand heavy mite infestations in their nesting site without harm
* cause other agricultural damage by eating cultivated fruits such as grapes and cherries.
* come home to roost, then leave when weeds begin to overrun the flowers.
* compete for nesting sites.
* drive out native birds, most notably the purple martin.
* eat a variety of foods
* feed in flocks and roost together at night
  - their young entirely on insects
* follow parents.
* has-part beaks
  - muscles
* have a very long neck, fairly long head and long beak
  - an unusual bill that springs open to grip prey or pry plants apart
* have long yellow beaks and a vocalization that is an annoying squeal
  - vocalization that is an intense squeal
  - powerful beak muscles for opening their beaks
  - wide-ranging food tolerances though they prefer insects
* include birds.
* includes air sacs
  - bird's feet
  - brains
  - breasts
  - cell membranes
  - cells
  - chest cavities
  - chests
  - corpi
  - cytoplasm
  - faces
  - flight feathers
  - heads
  - lips
  - mouths
  - nuclei
  - plasma membranes
  - quill feathers
  - rib cages
  - second joints
  - sections
  - skulls
  - sterna
  - talons
  - vacuoles
  - wishbones
* lay eggs.
* molt their feathers in the fall.
* need diets.
* obtain sustenance.
* often take over the nests of native birds, expelling the occupants.
* prefer to feed early to midday and in areas where feed is constantly available.
* produce an average of five eggs in each clutch
  - several young in a brood and only a few broods
* protect their chicks from parasitic insects by lining their nests with certain herbs.
* require a certain terrain for foraging.
* seduce each other with long throat feathers.
* sometimes follow farm equipment as it turns up the soil
  - gather at a riverside and bathe in groups of hundreds
* tend to flock together when feeding.
* turn from spotted and white to glossy and dark each year without shedding their feathers.
* usually live in flocks
  - near humans
  - win and take over the nest
* work indirectly to reduce numbers of the major insects that damage farm crops.
+ Starling, Flocks, null, North America
  * As an introduced species, European Starlings are not protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Starlings are considered a nuisance species in North America. The birds, which travel in enormous flocks, often pose dangers to air travel, disrupt cattle operations, chase off native birds, and roost on city blocks. They leave behind corrosive droppings and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage every year. In 2008, U.S. government agents poisoned, shot and trapped 1.7 million starlings, more than any other nuisance species
  - Flocks: Passeri
  * North-East European starlings migrate, but in southern and western Europe the birds are resident. Starlings are generally a highly social family. Most species associate in flocks of varying sizes throughout the year. These flocks may include other species of starlings and sometimes species from other families. This sociality is obvious in their roosting behaviour. In the non-breeding season some roosts can number thousands of birds. Flocks in Britain used to number millions of birds, though numbers are now fewer than they used to be