Editing Common starling (section)

== Relationship with humans ==

=== Benefits and problems ===
[[File:FLi 622.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Starlings on wires|Congregating on wires in France]]
Since common starlings eat insect pests such as [[wireworm]]s, they are considered beneficial in northern Eurasia, and this was one of the reasons given for introducing the birds elsewhere. Around 25&nbsp;million [[nest box]]es were erected for this species in the former [[Soviet Union]], and common starlings were found to be effective in controlling the grass grub ''[[Costelytra zealandica]]'' in New Zealand.<ref name = feare183/> The original Australian introduction was facilitated by the provision of nest boxes to help this mainly [[Insectivore|insectivorous]] bird to breed successfully,<ref name=H1907/> and even in the US, where this is a pest species, the [[United States Department of Agriculture|Department of Agriculture]] acknowledges that vast numbers of insects are consumed by common starlings.<ref name=colostate>{{cite web |url=http://lib.colostate.edu/research/agnic/starlings.html |title=European starlings |date=2011-09-27 |work=Wildlife Damage Management |publisher=USDA Wildlife Services |access-date=2012-12-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201031243/http://lib.colostate.edu/research/agnic/starlings.html |archive-date=2013-02-01 }}</ref>

Common starlings introduced to areas such as Australia or North America, where other members of the genus are absent, may affect native species through competition for nest holes. In North America, [[chickadee]]s, [[nuthatch]]es, [[woodpecker]]s, [[purple martin]]s and other [[swallow]]s may be affected.<ref name="wdfw.wa.gov"/><ref name= fan>Federation of Alberta Naturalists (2007) p. 374.</ref> In Australia, competitors for nesting sites include the [[crimson rosella|crimson]] and [[eastern rosella]]s.<ref name=Pell>{{cite journal| last1= Pell| first1= A S| last2= Tidemann| first2= C R| year= 1997| title= The impact of two exotic hollow-nesting birds on two native parrots in savannah and woodland in eastern Australia| journal= Biological Conservation| volume= 79| issue= 2/3| pages= 145–153| url= http://www.indianmynaaction.org.au/documents/Pell_Tidemann_myna_impacts1997.pdf| doi= 10.1016/S0006-3207(96)00112-7| bibcode= 1997BCons..79..145P| access-date= 2013-01-10| archive-date= 2015-02-28| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150228082055/http://indianmynaaction.org.au/documents/Pell_Tidemann_myna_impacts1997.pdf| url-status= dead}}</ref> For its role in the decline of local native species and the damages to agriculture, the common starling has been included in the [[IUCN]] [[List of the world's 100 worst invasive species]].<ref>{{cite web |title=100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species |work=Global Invasive Species Database |publisher=Invasive Species Specialist Group, [[IUCN]] |url=http://www.issg.org/database/species/search.asp?st=100ss&fr=1&str=&lang=EN |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref>[[File:Sturnus vulgaris no.JPG|thumb|alt=Starling eating fruit|Feeding on a windfall apple|left]]European, or common, starlings are habitat generalists meaning they are able to exploit a multitude of habitats, nest sites and food sources. This, coupled with them being lowland birds that easily coexist with humans, enables them to take advantage of other native birds, most particularly woodpecker.<ref name="columbiauni-invasionbio">{{Cite web|title=Invasion Biology Introduced Species Summary Project – Columbia University|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Sturnus_vulgaris.html|access-date=2020-10-05|website=columbia.edu}}</ref> European starlings are considered aggressive [[omnivore]]s that utilize an open-bill probing technique that gives them an evolutionary advantage over birds that are [[frugivore]]s.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite journal|last=BROCHIER B. VANGELUWE D. VAN DEN BERG T.P.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/947048499|title=Alien invasive birds|journal=Revue Scientifique et Technique (International Office of Epizootics)|date=2010-08-01|volume=29|issue=2|pages=217–25|pmid=20919578|oclc=947048499}}</ref> Their aggressive and gregarious behaviour in terms of food thus allows them to outcompete native species. Common starlings are also aggressive in the creation of their nest cavities. Often, starlings will usurp a nest site, for example a tree hollow, and fill it rapidly with bedding and contaminants compared to other species, like the native parrots, that use little to no bedding.<ref name="auto1"/> As cavity nesters, they are able to outcompete many native species in terms of habitat and nest sites.

Common starlings can eat and damage fruit in orchards such as [[grape]]s, [[peach]]es, [[olive]]s, [[Ribes|currant]]s and [[tomato]]es or dig up newly sown grain and sprouting crops.<ref name="pestnote" /><ref name="feareconf" /> They may also eat animal feed and distribute seeds through their droppings. In eastern Australia, weeds like [[Asparagus asparagoides|bridal creeper]], [[blackberry]] and [[Chrysanthemoides monilifera|boneseed]] are thought to have been spread by common starlings.<ref name="aws">{{cite web | title= Starlings: a threat to Australia's unique ecosystems | url= http://awsassets.wwf.org.au/downloads/sp061_fs_starling_03aug06.pdf | publisher= Threatened Species Network | access-date= 2013-01-10 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130521030444/http://awsassets.wwf.org.au/downloads/sp061_fs_starling_03aug06.pdf | archive-date= 2013-05-21 | url-status= dead }}</ref> Agricultural damage in the US is estimated as costing about US$800{{nbsp}}million annually.<ref name="colostate" /> This bird is not considered to be as damaging to agriculture in South Africa as it is in the United States.<ref name="iziko">{{cite web |url=http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/sturnidae/sturnus_vulgaris.htm |title=''Sturnus vulgaris'' (Common starling, Eurasian starling, European starling) |work=Biodiversity Explorer |publisher=IZIKO, Museums of Cape Town |access-date=2012-12-30 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054701/http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/sturnidae/sturnus_vulgaris.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Common starlings take advantage of agricultural fields, livestock facilities, and other human related sources of food and nest sites. Starlings often assault crops such as grapes, olives, and cherries by consuming excessive amounts of crops in large flock sizes and in new grain fields, starlings pull up young plants and eat the seeds.<ref name="columbiauni-invasionbio"/> In caged trials, it was shown that starlings eat {{cvt|7–23|g}} of animal food daily and {{cvt|20–40|g}} of plant food meaning a decent portion of crops are consumed by these birds.<ref name="bad ref">{{Cite web|date=2014-05-17|title=EUROPEAN STARLINGS: A REVIEW OF AN INVASIVE SPECIES WITH FAR-REACHING IMPACTS|url=http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=17532&content=PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517192406/http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=17532&content=PDF|access-date=2020-10-05|archive-date=2014-05-17}}</ref> Bird damage to grapes in 1968 cost upwards to $4.4{{nbsp}}million while losing almost 17% of the crops.<ref name="bad ref"/> Common starlings also often congregate at feeding troughs to eat grain and concurrently contaminate the food and water sources provided for livestock with their droppings.<ref name="columbiauni-invasionbio"/> For example, high protein supplements added to cattle feed are selectively eaten by common starlings.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Johnson, Ron J.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/28283265|title=Starling management in agriculture|date=1992|publisher=[Cooperative Extension, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln]|oclc=28283265}}</ref> In 1968, the cost of cattle rations consumed during winter by starlings was $84 per 1,000 starlings and is proposed to be much more expensive today given an increase in current cattle feed costs.<ref name="bad ref"/> The English or house sparrow ([[House sparrow|''Passer domesticus'']]) and the common starling are considerable agricultural pests, together causing an estimated US$1{{nbsp}}billion per year in crop damages.<ref>{{Citation|last=Pimentel|first=David|title=Economic and environmental threats of alien plant, animal, and microbe invasions*|date=2002-06-13|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/9781420041668.ch17|work=Biological Invasions|pages=307–329|publisher=CRC Press|doi=10.1201/9781420041668.ch17|doi-broken-date=2024-11-11 |isbn=978-0-8493-0836-9|access-date=2020-10-05|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The large size of flocks can also cause problems. The large roosts of the common starling pose many safety hazards for aircraft, mainly including the clogging of engines that concurrently shutdown the plane into descent.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chow|first=James|title=Sturnus vulgaris (common starling)|url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Sturnus_vulgaris/|access-date=2020-10-05|website=Animal Diversity Web|language=en}}</ref> One of the worst instances of this was the [[Eastern Air Lines Flight 375]] incident in [[Boston]] in 1960, when 62 people died after a [[turboprop]] airliner flew into a flock and plummeted into the sea at [[Winthrop, Massachusetts|Winthrop]] Harbor.<ref>{{cite book |title=Bird Strike: The Crash of the Boston Electra |last=Kalafatas |first=Michael N. |year=2010 |publisher=Brandeis |isbn=978-1-58465-897-9 }}</ref> From the years 1990–2001, 852 incidents of aircraft hazard due to starlings and [[Icteridae|New World blackbirds]] were reported with 39 strikes causing major damage that cost a total of $1,607,317.<ref name="bad ref"/>

Starlings' droppings can contain the fungus ''[[Histoplasma#Histoplasma capsulatum|Histoplasma capsulatum]]'', the cause of [[histoplasmosis]] in humans. At roosting sites this fungus can thrive in accumulated droppings.<ref name="feare183" /> There are a number of other [[infectious disease]]s that can potentially be transmitted by common starlings to humans,<ref name="colostate" /> although the potential for the birds to spread infections may have been exaggerated.<ref name="wdfw.wa.gov" /> The spread of disease to livestock is also a concern, possibly more important than starling's effects on food consumption or transmission of disease to humans. The spreading of [[Histoplasmosis]] reported in a Nebraska manufacturing facility saw a loss of 10,000 pigs from the spread of the disease which was valued at $1{{nbsp}}million loss in 2014.<ref name="bad ref"/>

=== Control ===
Due to the impact of starlings on crop production, there have been attempts to control the numbers of both native and introduced populations of common starlings. Within the natural breeding range, this may be affected by legislation. For example, in Spain, the species is hunted commercially as a food item, and has a closed season, whereas in France, it is classed as a pest, and the season in which it may be killed covers the greater part of the year. In Great Britain, starlings are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it "illegal to intentionally kill, injure or take a starling, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents". The Wildlife Order in Northern Ireland allows, with a general licence, "an authorised person to control starlings to prevent serious damage to agriculture or preserve public health and safety".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/starling|title=Starling Bird Facts &#124; Sturnus Vulgaris|website=The RSPB}}</ref> The species is migratory, so birds involved in control measures may have come from a wide area and breeding populations may not be greatly affected. In Europe, the varying legislation and mobile populations mean that control attempts may have limited long-term results.<ref name = feareconf>{{Cite conference | first = Chris J | last = Feare |author2=Douville de Franssu, Pierre|author3=Peris, Salvador J | title = The starling in Europe: multiple approaches to a problem | work = Proceedings of the Fifteenth Vertebrate Pest Conference | pages =83–88 | publisher = University of California, Davis | year = 1992| location = Davis }}</ref> Non-lethal techniques such as scaring with [[Bird scarer|visual or auditory devices]] have only a temporary effect in any case.<ref name= linz/>

Huge urban roosts in cities can create problems due to the noise and mess made and the smell of the droppings. In 1949, so many birds landed on the clock hands of London's [[Big Ben]] that it stopped, leading to unsuccessful attempts to disrupt the roosts with netting, repellent chemical on the ledges and broadcasts of common starling alarm calls. An entire episode of ''[[The Goon Show]]'' in 1954 was a [[parody]] of the futile efforts to disrupt the large common starling roosts in central London.<ref name = cocker/>

[[File:Sturnus vulgaris -England -bird feeder-8.jpg|upright|thumb|right|alt=Starling at bird feeder|Visiting a bird feeder. The adult has a black beak in the winter.]]
Where it is introduced, the common starling is unprotected by legislation, and extensive control plans may be initiated. Common starlings can be prevented from using nest boxes by ensuring that the access holes are smaller than the {{cvt|1.5|in|0}} diameter they need, and the removal of perches discourages them from visiting [[bird feeder]]s.<ref name="wdfw.wa.gov"/>

Western Australia banned the import of common starlings in 1895. New flocks arriving from the east are routinely shot, while the less cautious juveniles are trapped and netted.<ref name=Wooly/> New methods are being developed, such as tagging one bird and tracking it back to establish where other members of the flock roost.<ref name=Judas>{{cite journal | last= Woolnough| first= Andrew P|author2=Lowe, T J |author3=Rose, K  | year=2006 | title=Can the Judas technique be applied to pest birds? | journal= Wildlife Research | volume= 33 | issue = 6| pages= 449–455 | doi =10.1071/WR06009 }}</ref> Another technique is to analyse the DNA of Australian common starling populations to track where the migration from eastern to western Australia is occurring so that better preventive strategies can be used.<ref name=Rollins>{{cite journal | last= Rollins| first= L A|author2=Woolnough, Andrew P|author3=Sherwin, W B| year= 2006| title=Population genetic tools for pest management: a review | journal= Wildlife Research | volume= 33 | pages= 251–261 | doi= 10.1071/WR05106 | issue= 4 }}</ref> By 2009, only 300 common starlings were left in Western Australia, and the state committed a further A$400,000 in that year to continue the eradication programme.<ref name=redman>{{cite web |author=Redman, Terry |title=State Government commits to help eradicate starlings |work=Media releases, 2009–10–19 |url=http://www.nationalswa.com/News/MediaReleases/tabid/83/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/42/State-Government-commits-400000-to-help-eradicate-starlings-Redman.aspx |publisher=State of Western Australia |access-date=2013-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330081119/http://www.nationalswa.com/News/MediaReleases/tabid/83/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/42/State-Government-commits-400000-to-help-eradicate-starlings-Redman.aspx |archive-date=2012-03-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the United States, common starlings are exempt from the [[Migratory Bird Treaty Act]], which prohibits the taking or killing of migratory birds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/intrnltr/mbta/taxolst.html |publisher = US Fish & Wildlife Service| title=Birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act |access-date=2007-12-17 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071214065547/http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/intrnltr/mbta/taxolst.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-12-14}}</ref> No permit is required to remove nests and eggs or kill juveniles or adults.<ref name="wdfw.wa.gov"/> Research was undertaken in 1966 to identify a suitable [[avicide]] that would both kill common starlings and would readily be eaten by them. It also needed to be of low toxicity to mammals and not likely to cause the death of pets that ate dead birds. The chemical that best fitted these criteria was DRC-1339, now marketed as [[Starlicide]].<ref name = decino>{{cite journal |title=Toxicity of DRC-1339 to starlings |last1=Decino  |first1 =Thomas J |last2=Cunningham | first2 = Donald J| last3 = Schafer | first3 = Edward W |journal=Journal of Wildlife Management |volume=30 |issue=2 |year=1966 |pages=249–253|doi=10.2307/3797809|jstor=3797809}}</ref> In 2008, the United States government poisoned, shot or trapped 1.7{{nbsp}}million birds, the largest number of any nuisance species to be culled.<ref name=stark>{{cite news| author =Stark, Mike| title= Shock and Caw: Pesky Starlings Still Overwhelm| publisher= NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32722587 |access-date =19 March 2019| date=2009-09-07}}</ref> In 2005, the population in the United States was estimated at 140{{nbsp}}million birds,<ref name=johnson>{{cite web |author1=Johnson, Ron J |author2=Glahn, James F |title=European Starlings and their Control |url=http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/EuropeanStarlings.asp |publisher=Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management |access-date=2013-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120822013345/http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/EuropeanStarlings.asp |archive-date=2012-08-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref> around 45% of the global total of 310{{nbsp}}million.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" />

The likelihood of starlings to damage the feeding operations is dependent on the number of livestock, favouring areas with more livestock.<ref name="Glahn 15">{{Cite journal|last1=Glahn|first1=James F.|last2=Otis|first2=David L.|date=January 1986|title=Factors Influencing Blackbird and European Starling Damage at Livestock Feeding Operations|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3801481|journal=The Journal of Wildlife Management|volume=50|issue=1|pages=15|doi=10.2307/3801481|jstor=3801481|url-access=subscription}}</ref> They also show preference for feed types which were not whole corn but smaller feeds, creating more damage in areas where the feed was smaller.<ref name="Glahn 15"/> They also showed feed preference based on composition.<ref name="Carlson 1777–1784">{{Cite journal|last1=Carlson|first1=J.C.|last2=Stahl|first2=R.S.|last3=DeLiberto|first3=S.T.|last4=Wagner|first4=J.J.|last5=Engle|first5=T.E.|last6=Engeman|first6=R.M.|last7=Olson|first7=C.S.|last8=Ellis|first8=J.W.|last9=Werner|first9=S.J.|date=February 2018|title=Nutritional depletion of total mixed rations by European starlings: Projected effects on dairy cow performance and potential intervention strategies to mitigate damage|journal=Journal of Dairy Science|language=en|volume=101|issue=2|pages=1777–1784|doi=10.3168/jds.2017-12858|pmid=29224857|doi-access=free}}</ref> A proposed solution to this problem is use of less palatable feed by agriculturalists, perhaps relying on larger feed types or feed which is less favourable in composition to starlings.<ref name="Carlson 1777–1784"/><ref name="Glahn 15"/> An additional solution for mitigation control involves ensuring that livestock feeding operations are not within close proximity of each other or starling roosts.<ref name="Glahn 15"/> Weather conditions also had an impact on whether starlings visited livestock feeding operations, with a higher likelihood to visit in colder temperatures or following snow storms.<ref name="Carlson 2011 9">{{Cite journal|last1=Carlson|first1=James C|last2=Engeman|first2=Richard M|last3=Hyatt|first3=Doreene R|last4=Gilliland|first4=Rickey L|last5=DeLiberto|first5=Thomas J|last6=Clark|first6=Larry|last7=Bodenchuk|first7=Michael J|last8=Linz|first8=George M|date=2011|title=Efficacy of European starling control to reduce Salmonella enterica contamination in a concentrated animal feeding operation in the Texas panhandle|url= |journal=BMC Veterinary Research|language=en|volume=7|issue=1|pages=9|doi=10.1186/1746-6148-7-9|issn=1746-6148|pmc=3050709|pmid=21324202 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Alternatives to managing starling populations in agricultural areas include the use of starlicide. Use of starlicide has been found to reduce the spread of ''[[Salmonella enterica]]'' in livestock and other diseases found among livestock.<ref name="Carlson 2011 9"/> Though this does not appear to eliminate introduction of these diseases completely, it has been determined that they are contributors and starling control is a successful mitigation strategy.<ref name="Carlson 2011 9"/>

=== In science and culture ===
[[File:Pet European Starling Bird.jpg|thumb|alt=Pet starling|Pet in a cage]]

Common starlings may be kept as pets or as laboratory animals. Austrian [[ethology|ethologist]] Konrad Lorenz wrote of them in his book ''[[King Solomon's Ring (nonfiction)|King Solomon's Ring]]'' as "the poor man's dog" and "something to love",<ref name= lorentz>Lorenz (1961) p. 59.</ref> because nestlings are easily obtained from the wild and after careful hand rearing they are straightforward to look after.<ref name= lorentz/><ref name= Kilham>Kilham & Waltermire (1988) p. 59.</ref> They adapt well to captivity, and thrive on a diet of standard bird feed and [[mealworm]]s. Several birds may be kept in the same cage, and their inquisitiveness makes them easy to train or study. The only disadvantages are their messy and indiscriminate defecation habits and the need to take precautions against diseases that may be transmitted to humans. As a laboratory bird, the common starling is second in numbers only to the [[domestic pigeon]].<ref name=bvaawf>{{cite journal | last1 = Hawkins | first1 = P | last2 = Morton | first2 = D B | last3 = Cameron | first3 = D | last4 = Cuthill | first4 = I | last5 = Francis | first5 = R | last6 = Freire | first6 = R | last7 = Gosler | first7 = A | last8 = Healey | first8 = S | last9 = Hudson | first9 = A | last10 = Inglis | first10 = I | last11 = Jones | first11 = A | last12 = Kirkwood | first12 = J | last13 = Lawton | first13 = m | last14 = Monaghan | first14 = P | last15 = Sherwin | first15 = C | last16 = Townsend | first16 = P | year = 2001 | title = The starling, ''Sturnus vulgaris'' | journal = Laboratory Animals | volume = 35 | issue = Supplement 1: Laboratory birds: refinements in husbandry and procedures | pages = 120–126 | url = http://la.rsmjournals.com/content/35/suppl_1/120.full.pdf | doi = 10.1258/0023677011912164 | s2cid = 208065551 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150719013950/http://la.rsmjournals.com/content/35/suppl_1/120.full.pdf | archive-date = 2015-07-19 }}</ref>

The common starling's gift for mimicry has long been recognised. In the medieval Welsh {{lang|wlm|[[Mabinogion]]}}, [[Branwen]] tamed a common starling, "taught it words", and sent it across the Irish Sea with a message to her brothers, [[Bran the Blessed|Bran]] and [[Manawydan]], who then sailed from Wales to Ireland to rescue her.<ref name= Jones >Jones & Jones (1970) p. 30.</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] claimed that these birds could be taught to speak whole sentences in Latin and Greek, and in ''[[Henry IV, Part 1|Henry IV]]'', William Shakespeare had [[Henry Percy (Hotspur)|Hotspur]] declare "The king forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer. But I will find him when he is asleep, and in his ear I'll holler 'Mortimer!' Nay I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer, and give it to him to keep his anger still in motion."

[[File:MozartStarlingTune.PNG|thumb|300px|alt=Mozart's "starling song"|Mozart's "starling song"]]
[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] had a [[Mozart's starling|pet common starling]] which could sing part of his [[Piano Concerto No. 17 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto in G Major]] (KV. 453).<ref name= cocker>Cocker & Mabey (2005) pp. 429–436.</ref> He had bought it from a shop after hearing it sing a phrase from a work he wrote six weeks previously, which had not yet been performed in public. He became very attached to the bird and arranged an elaborate funeral for it when it died three years later. It has been suggested that his ''[[A Musical Joke]]'' (K. 522) might be written in the comical, inconsequential style of a starling's vocalisation.<ref name=West/> Other people who have owned common starlings report how adept they are at picking up phrases and expressions. The words have no meaning for the starling, so they often mix them up or use them on what to humans are inappropriate occasions in their songs.<ref name= lorentz84>Lorenz (1961) p. 84.</ref> Their ability at [[mimicry]] is so great that strangers have looked in vain for the human they think they have just heard speak.<ref name=West/>

Common starlings are trapped for food in some Arab countries.<ref name =feare183/> The meat is tough and of low quality, so it is casseroled or made into pâté. One recipe said it should be stewed "until tender, however long that may be". Even when correctly prepared, it may still be seen as an acquired taste.<ref name= cocker/><ref name= Artusi>Artusi (2003) p. 220.</ref><ref name= Michalowski>Michalowski (2011) p. 61.</ref>