Much
maligned over large areas of its range the Starling is far from
unwelcome in Øygarden. Here is it a migrant that often nests
in or around houses and does great work in the fields where they
consume, among other things, leather jacket larvae. The vast majority
leave during the winter but small numbers usually stay here and there.
Many people encourage this species with nestboxes.
The species has been introduced in many countries and causes widespread
destruction in some of these. In the UK it has earned a bad name for
clearing out bird tables and feeders before other species get a look
in. Over much of Europe the Starling is in widespread decline due to
habitat loss and changes in agriculture.
Starling eating slug, Øygarden, October 2017
A whole flock was in a slug eating frenzy, though it involved a lot of
bill-wiping to get rid of all the slime.
This is another pest that Starlings prey on - we should rightly be
concerned about their declining numbers. Luckily in Øygarden
the
number of breeding birds seems quite stable.
.
Tjeldstø,
Øygarden, January 2010
Starling can look very smart indeed in the spring!
Here together with a Redwing, March 2018
Pictures taken
using a digital SLR camera with a 400mm
telephoto lens
Starling are a
common sight on offshore platforms and vessels and may spend days
onboard if there is food available - typically scavenging in skips.
They can die in quite big numbers by colliding with structures during
the hours of darkness; they are also a favoured prey item for offshoreLong-eared
Owls.
Occasionally they eat other birds too - an example being them eating
dead Chaffinches onboard a construction vessel on the Dogger Bank,
North Sea in April 2023.
Starling takes a break onboard, Dogger Bank, North Sea, April 2023
Images above and below taken with a compact superzoom rather than DSLR
This picture was taken at night using a hand held DSLR with a telephoto
lens. Using an ISO setting of 2500 and underexposing I managed to get
the shutter speed down to 1/500. Quite a reasonable result given the
conditions. For more about nocturnal photography see this link.
