Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

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Abundance: Common at all seasons; recorded in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); data from the Regional bird-monitoring efforts indicate that the population breeding in the Region is probably stable, perhaps even increasing (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Permanent Resident; specimen (4 June 1938; Monticello, Wayne County, Kentucky; W. M. Perrygo; Wetmore 1940);photograph [ventral view of basic-plumaged individual] (Stephen J. Stedman; White's Bend Rd., Jackson County, Tennessee; 28 December 2011).

Regional High Count and CBC/CBB High Count: 1,500,000 (16 December 1979; Pulaski County, Kentucky [Somerset CBC]; Jackie B. Elmore, Sr.); FBC/FBB High Count: 6268 (19 September 2009; Putnam County, Tennessee [FBC]; m. ob.); SBC/SBB High Count: 2022 (9 May 2009; Putnam County, Tennessee [SBC]; m. ob.).

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent). Another of the many obligate cavity nesters found in the Region, the starling selects a wide variety of cavities for nesting sites.  It also competes for cavities with many other species that build or use cavities as nest sites; the competition includes efforts to evict some woodpeckers from cavities that the woodpeckers have just excavated for nesting purposes; some of these efforts are successful

Habitat: An urbanite, the starling is also quite at home in suburban and rural habitats; during the breeding season its population density appears to decrease markedly only in areas of unbroken forest, but even in such habitat the starling is seldom completely absent.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 62 (of 125) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 133 (of 206 check-lists during 2004, leading to a YardWatch frequency classification of Common during each year; this YardWatch frequency classification is consistent with the overall Regional abundance classification.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: The starling is quite gregarious during a large part of its annual cycle, usually from mid-autumn until late winter or early spring.  Large foraging flocks of starlings are a common sight during this period.  Starlings often form foraging flocks with several species of blackbirds, especially Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Brown-headed Cowbirds.  Even larger than the foraging flocks are the congregations of starlings (and blackbirds) that fly to roosting sites.  These sometimes number in the hundreds of thousands, occasionally in the millions (see also Regional High Count [above]).  Of considerable interest in terms of determining when starlings begin to roost communally each autumn was the presence of a large number of starlings in the spectacular martin roost at Lillydale during 2008; about 10,000 starlings shared this roost with about 40,000 martins 2 August 2008 (Stephen J. Stedman et al., pers. obs.).

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited