Starling (Sturnus Vulgaris)
[Called also: EUROPEAN STARLING, AOU 1998]

Length -- 8 to 9 inches. Weight about equals that of robin, but the starling, with its short, drooping tail, is chunkier in appearance. Male -- Iridescent black with glints of purple, green, and blue. On back the black feathers, with iridescence of green and bronze, are tipped with brown, as are some of the tail and wing feathers. In autumn and early winter feathers of sides of head, breast, flanks and underparts are tipped with white, giving a gray, mottled appearance. During the winter most of the white tips on breast and underparts wear off. Until the first moult in late summer the young birds are a dark olive-brown in color, with white or whitish throat. These differences in plumage at different seasons and different ages make starlings hard to identify. Red-winged blackbirds and grackles are often mistaken for them. From early spring till mid-June, starling's rather long, sharp bill is yellow. Later in summer it darkens. No other black bird of ours has this yellow bill at any season. Female -- Similar in appearance. Range -- Massachusetts to Maryland. Not common beyond 100 miles inland. (Native of northern Europe and Asia.) Migrations -- Permanent resident, but flocks show some tendency to drift southward in winter.