European Starling

It finally snowed today while I was at work, and my walk home was through about an inch and a half of light powder.  The crows were jubilant, cawing and circling all over town.  But also out enjoying the fresh snow and brisk breeze were European Starlings, Sturnus vulgaris.  I did not get a photo today because I have yet to master the art of photographing birds on the wing, not to mention that it was cold and gray, so I probably would not have achieved the best picture of even a stationary bird.   I do have a starling photo that I took last spring, so we'll all just have to be content with that.

The common starling was intentionally introduced into New York's Central Park in the 1890s by someone who wanted the Americas to have all the birdlife mentioned in Shakespeare.  While I'm all for being a fan of Shakepeare's work, this strikes me as a pretty ridiculous idea.  The starlings found the new world to their liking and spread across the continent with ease.  Allaboutbirds.org relates that starlings found in the west are still genetically similar to those found on the east coast.  Lack of genetic variation often leads to trouble for a species, but starlings seem to be having no trouble thriving, especially in human environments.

The starling has an unusual beak, described here by Stanford University's website:

 

"The European Starling has jaw muscles that work 'backward.' Instead of using most of their power to clamp the bill shut, these muscles use it to spring the bill open. Thus the bill functions not just to grip prey but also to pry apart obscuring plants. The closed bill is inserted between blades of grass in thick turf or other cover, and then sprung open to expose hidden prey. As the bill opens, the eyes move forward toward each other, permitting binocular vision. This readily observed foraging technique enables the starling to detect not only active prey but also dormant or stationary prey, as well. William Beecher, who made this discovery during a seven-year study of songbird head musculature and skull adaptations, suggests that this unique hunting maneuver was also key to the high rate of survival of starlings during winter." 

   

Starlings can mimic the songs of other birds, and I have heard starlings making squeaks like a rusted out car.  They can even be taught to imitate human speech, as seen in this video:  youtube talking starling