Bird Sighting
Starling
Sturnus vulgaris · Sturnidae (Starlings)
01/01/2025 · Elton Hall Flash, Central area
- Date
- 01/01/2025
- Location
- Elton Hall Flash
- Recording area
- Central area
- Grid reference
- SJ 7246 5957
- Observer
- admin
Grid reference: SJ 7246 5957 53.13262, -2.41300 Open in OpenStreetMap
Starling in our records
- Records
- 6
- First recorded
- 01/01/2021
- Last recorded
- 01/01/2026
- Places
- Elton Hall Flash
Other recent records
About the Starling
The common starling (Sturnus vulgaris), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, and as the European starling in North America, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of the year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least Concern
- Wingspan
- 38 cm
Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0 
No machine-readable author provided. Scops~commonswiki assumed (based on copyrig…, CC BY-SA 3.0 
kirinzi, CC BY 4.0 
amirekul, CC BY-SA 4.0 
Arnstein Rønning, CC BY-SA 3.0 
Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 3.0 
Arne List, CC BY-SA 2.0 
Klaus Rassinger und Gerhard Cammerer, Museum Wiesbaden, CC BY-SA 3.0
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article “Common starling” by its contributors (introduction, may be shortened), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, with the photographer and licence under each one.