European starlings.
European starlings were introduced to New York’s Central Park in 1890.
It was an intentional introduction.
In the nineteenth century, introducing species was actually deemed a virtue.
The French zoologist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire wrote a book on how wonderful an idea it was for different species to be introduced across the world.
He founded a society in Paris in 1854 called La Societé Zoologique d’Acclimatation, and its sole purpose was to breed and introduce foreign species to France.
A similar society was founded in New York in 1871, and one of its prominent members was Eugene Schieffelin. A pharmacist by trade and an amateur naturalist and Shakespeare buff, Schiefflin thought it would be a grand idea to introduce European birds that had been mentioned in Shakespeare’s works to the United States.
Although he tried to introduce nightingales, bullfinches, chaffinches, and skylarks to the, only his release 100 starlings proved successful. He turned out 60 birds into Central Park in 1890, and then he released an additional 40 the following year.
It’s possible that all starlings in North America derive from these 100, but I would like to see some DNA analysis of some sort to confirm it.
The starling is unbelievably common in most of North America now. It now competes with all the native birds that nest in holes in trees, and it has implicated in the recent decline in purple martins in this part of the continent. When I was a child, it was not unusual to see intricately designed martin boxes in backyards, but it didn’t take long before they became starling boxes.
So now the horde feeds in the snow.
In the spring, they will expand.
And conquer more.
I’m surprised that you’re still getting large flocks of Starlings. Although both they and the “English Sparrow” (aka House Sparrow–Passer domesticus) are still around, we don’t see them in large numbers anymore. We have had the usual flocks of Cowbirds this winter, but their normal flocking companions, the Starlings, have been conspicuously absent. Also greatly reduced of late, due to an eye disease (mycoplasmal conjunctivitis), is the House Finch, originally native to the West Coast of N. America.
When I was young, before and during the second world war, both starlings and house sparrows seemed to appear in flocks in all our gardens all of the time. An interesting spectacle was the amazing sight of huge flocks of starlings creating mathematical shapes in the evening sky (to confuse and avoid hawks) before they eventually settled down, typically noisily in some isolated copse.
House sparrows were often referred to as “cockney sparrers” because they were so common in the streets of London. Who would ever have thought these two ubiquitous species would become so rare in England of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. I wonder if there will even be enough of them to qualify for red list status by the next century. Maybe someone else knows why they became so scarse in England, as I don’t recall anyone seeking to destroy them in any serious way. Was it the changes in farming practises maybe? Obviously not by a deliberate act of man in any similar way to America’s loss of its carolina parakeets and passenger pigeons.
House Sparrows and Starlings are already red status in the UK, according to the RSPB website. As for their decline, loss of nesting sites and decline in insects due to pesticide use for nesting sparrows seems to be a large part of it. You can buy special nest boxes for sparrows if anybody wants to help them out. Instead of the one single nest box that tits favour, Sparrow boxes have several compartments with their own entrance holes as they like to nest in small colonies. They like cover too so you can consider that a great excuse for having an untidy corner in the garden and not trimming your trees or ivy back.
I remember less than 30 years ago we often had a flock of noisy starlings roosting in a tree in the back garden and we had nothing but sparrows and the odd blackbird or robin. Then they gradually disappeared. Nowadays in my local area there are far fewer sparrows and I can’t remember the last time I saw a starling. Blue tits and great tits seem to have taken the sparrow’s place in town gardens. I do see quite a few house sparrows away from the houses as the nature reserve has lots of thick undergrowth for cover and nesting in and no pesticides so plenty insects for the nestlings. They do come to the bird tables and feeding stations the neighbours have set up in a tree, but they in the minority.
Round here I commonly see collared doves, wood pigeons, goldfinches, chaffinches, thrushes, and predators like our resident crow pair, many more magpies, sparrowhawks and even a pair of buzzards. None of these species used to be that common round here even 20 years ago. Several of them prey on sparrows. We also have a resident grey squirrel and a very agile brown rat, both of which have grown sleek and fat on food put out by several neighbours for wild birds. Rats are ubiquitous, but like foxes, the grey squirrels have really invaded much of the UK they were never seen in a decade or two ago. They will also raid bird nests given a chance.
I suspect that their gregarious behavior may make them more susceptible to disease thus decreasing their numbers locally and sporadically..
Also, you can still see such flocking behavior (aka murmuration) like that you mention in some of our big cities (see http://www.examiner.com/article/flocks-of-starlings-infiltrating-urban-areas-across-u-s-shakespeare-to-blame-photos)
There they join other invasives, like the Rock Dove (Columba livia), Brown or Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus); Black or Roof Rat (Rattus rattus), and the German Cockroach (Blattella germanica), as the most common species in admittedly very wonky ecosystems. Its the ubiquitous nature of Pigeons and Starlings thats allowed us to reintroduce Falcons–which now nest on building ledges in many of our cities.
BTW: Here’s a film of them flocking in Ireland: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/starling-flock/
also see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22birds.t.html?_r=0)
It is pretty unusual to see a starling in my part of the California central valley. However, there is the rare moment when a flock passes by and it is quite an impressive sight. Unfortunately, I lacked a good camera a few years ago when I last saw one.
I do know, however, that the native Brewer’s Blackbird has an ubiquitous presence around here. I wonder if European Starlings are in the same niche and cannot compete as well as the better-adapted resident blackbirds.
The starlings are generally more opportunistic feeders and nesters than the blackbirds & cowbirds, but do flock w/ them in the winter.
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