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, combined with the enormous size of starling roosts and their nearly indiscriminate diet, can hugely diminish the quantity and quality of crops produced on afflicted farms.  Starlings feed on various fruit crops such as cherries, peaches, figs, blueberries, apples, strawberries, and grapes which negatively impacts the quantity and quality of the crops produced on the effected farms (Johnson & Glahn 1994).  Also, starlings have recently been reported damaging ripening corn at the corn’s milk stage, and in some areas, starlings have been known to pull sprouting grains such as winter wheat causing even more costly damages for produce farmers (Johnson & Glahn 1994).

Figure 1.  Starlings eating cow feed.  (DAF 2007)

Starlings are harmful to livestock farming.  Though the starling’s role in the transmission of diseases is not fully understood.  Furthermore, on livestock farms, starlings consume vast quantities of animal feed, as shown in Figure 1, leaving the animals with empty stomachs and the farmers with empty wallets.  The starlings’ droppings destroy even more livestock feed and may transfer transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGE) to swine (Pimental et al. 2011) (Johnson & Glahn 1994). 

Works Cited:

Department of Agriculture and Food.  (2007)  Starling Updates.  Government of Western Australia: Department of Agriculture and Food.  (Date Accessed: May 17, 2013.) http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_93049.html

Johnson, R, & Glahn, J.  (1994)  European Starlings and Their Control.  Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management.  (Date Accessed: May 13, 2013.)  http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/EuropeanStarlings.asp

Lynch, J, & Messmer, T.  (2010)  European Starlings.  Wildlife Damage Management Series.  Utah State University Cooperative Extension.  (Date Accessed: May 13, 2013.)  http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/nr_wd_011.pdf

Pimental, D., Lach, L., Zuniga R., & Morrison, D.  (2011)  European Starlings.  Wildlife Damage Management.  USDA Wildlife Services: National Wildlife Research Center.  (Date Accessed: May 13, 2013.)  http://lib.colostate.edu/research/agnic/starlings.html