Quote Originally Posted by Callie
They're not native to the USA. They were imported from England to control some caterpillar (if I recall correctly) by some stupid scientists (they didn't test for environmental impact before release).
Close, but not exactly. Starlings were actually imported to the US by a Shakespear book club. They wanted every species of bird that was ever mentioned in Shakespear's works to live in Central Park in New York City. They brought over 80 starlings from England, and the rest is history.



Quote Originally Posted by Callie
The starlings have several nasty habits that are having a devastating effect on our native song birds. They lay their eggs in other bird nests. When the young hatch they are larger, stronger, and crowd and starve out the other (native song bird) nestlings. There is also evidence emerging that they have such voracious appetites that they exhaust the song bird parents so they do not produce as many offspring and die off early.
Starlings do not lay their eggs in other birds nests. Cowbirds and cuckoos do this, among other species, I'm sure, but starlings do not. They DO take over the nests of bluebirds, holes in tree trunks. But they raise their own babies.

Starlings do indeed gather in huge flocks, and can be quite noisy. They are insectivores, though, and they eat HUGE numbers of insects when they are flying in those huge flocks.

They have their good and bad points, like any species. They are not a native species, true, but neither is a house sparrow actually ... the most common bird in the US. And they are here to stay, being quite intelligent and prolific.

They do make WONDERFUL pets, despite anything else.