European Starling Kids T-Shirts

European Starling available on several different items. Show off your love of birds with a notebook, a mug, a print, or one of the other many options. Drawn by Allison Campbell as part of a “Backyard Birds” series.

A European starling

European Starling - The Bird Lover Collection

Apparently European Starling are known as "The poor man's dogs", so enjoy this good pup. Their swarming behavior "creates complex shapes silhouetted against the sky, a phenomenon known locally as sort sol ("black sun") (source: inaturalist.org).

A beautiful European Starling.

A European Starling sits on a stump against a blue sky.

A trio of starlings take flight. Original: copic marker on card stock.

European Starling

Common starling (Sturnus Vulgaris) perched on a tree branch

When seen at a distance, they appear black but close up and with the sun shining on them they are beautiful. And though they may be beautiful, they can be a pest, especially when they arrive at backyard feeders in large groups. They are not native to the USA but they are the most abundant of all songbirds with a range from Alaska to Mexico. 100 birds were set free in New York's Central Park in the early 1890s by a group who wanted America to have all the birds that Shakespeare ever mentioned. Unbelievable that now there are more than 200 million European Starlings! ©Debra Martz, All Rights Reserved In My Gallery/Collection: "Feathered Friends2" 20210215-72D_3941-Edit.tif

It has been a very cold winter in northern Oklahoma and much of the USA this year. We started the day wiwth -11F but fortunately the heater in the watering bowl for the birds is keeping water thawed and warm for them. This European Starling had just finished getting a drink and turned to depart. With extra inside time on my hands, I took this image into PS to create this abstract. ©Debra Martz, All Rights Reserved 20210210-DSC_3695

Breeding birds are dark overall with purplish-green iridescent and yellow bills

This old dead tree always seems to attract birds. Today the mix was Brown-headed Cowbirds, European Starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds. ©Debra Martz, All Rights Reserved In My Gallery/Collection: "Feathered Friends 2" 20210929-DSC_6474.NEF

As if the Sandhill Cranes were not loud enough, from the field beyond the bay arose a very loud Murmuration of Starlings. European Starlings use murmuration to confuse predators and to keep warm. And it could have been either one on this morning as it was 24 degrees when we arrived and while watching mainly the Sandhill Cranes we witnessed about 10 Bald Eagles flying over the water and the grassy areas. Captured along the Eagle Roost Trail from the bird blind at Sandy Bay Creek in the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge in northern Oklahoma. ©Debra Martz, All Rights Reserved In My Gallery/Collection: "Feathered Friends2" 20201210-DSC_2312.NEF