Historical Context

In 1890, a man named Eugene Schieffelin brought the European Starlings to the United States of America as part of a plan to introduce every type of bird mentioned in Shakespeare’s works to the United States (Gup 1990). By releasing 60 starlings in 1890 in Central Part and 40 more in 1891, Schieffelin brought about the start of a century-long conflict that the country still grapples with today (Gup 1990). Although initially attracting little notice...

Ecology

Starlings are cavity nesters, as seen in Figure 1 below, and compete with native species such as woodpeckers, bluebird and swallows for nesting spots (Humane Society 2013).  Male starlings can be particularly aggressive, even going so far as to peck holes in the eggs laid by other birds, remove their nesting materials, kill their young, and build a nest on top of another nest with eggs in it (Link 2013).  Furthermore, starlings do not migrate...

Perspective: Farmers

Starling infestations plague both produce and livestock-raising farmers alike.  Given their preference for areas with wide-open fields and easy access to food supplies, starlings often live in or close by farms, especially near their food stockpiles (Johnson & Glahn 1994).  Despite their tiny size, starlings can eat up to one ounce of food daily—a third of their overall weight (Pimental et al. 2011).  This appetite,...

Perspective: Department of Transportation/Airport Authorities

Starlings are a constant problem for airport authorities and the department of transportation because they pose an aircraft safety hazard.  Airborne starlings may get sucked into the jet engines of a plane, causing significant damage to the aircraft and possibly human causalities if they stray too close to the engines as shown in Figure 1 (Johnson & Glahn 1994).  On October 4, 1960, a commercial plane on Eastern Airlines flight 375...

Perspective: Average Person

Figure 1.  (Adams 2009) The abundance of starlings near human homes poses a nuisance and a health concern.  Although they pose greater threats to livestock, starlings are a sanitation issue in urban areas in which humans reside.  Six viral diseases, five bacterial diseases, four protozoan diseases, and two fungal diseases can be transmitted from starlings to humans and other animals (Lynch & Messmer 2010).  Histoplasmosis,...

Perspective: Ornithologist

Ornithologists, scientists who study birds, greatly value diversity among their various avian subjects.  Starlings destroy this diversity by aggressively expropriating resources that would otherwise go to native bird species.  The starlings compete fiercely for nesting cavities with natives such as bluebirds, woodpeckers, flickers, purple martins, and wood ducks, overthrowing them and often killing their eggs and young and/or murdering...

Perspective: Arborist

(Starling Control 2013) Arborists whose primary concern is the health of the trees, join the majority in the common desire to decrease starling populations. Starlings harm all trees.  They form communal roosts of up to 10,000 birds in high locations (Pimental et al. 2011).  The immense weight of such a large quantity of the otherwise relatively small birds causes obvious problems to trees in which the starlings make their large roosts,...

Perspective: Massachusetts Autobon Society Video

Christopher Leahy, chair of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, presents a balanced inspection of the pros and cons of starlings. ...

Solutions: Overview

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Solution: Exclusion Methods

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Solution: Extermination

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Solution: Frightening Mechanisms

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Solution: Trapping

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Solution: Vancouver Wildlife Video

A short video description of one method of humane starling removal. ...

Related Links

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