The most numerous bird in the European region is the starling. Many people remember from childhood the sight of large flocks of starlings circling over the roofs of houses. Even in adolescence, boys build birdhouses for these birds. They are also called the harbingers of spring, because in March they are fussily looking for houses to move into. Their funny chatter seems quite cheerful. Which bird is the starling - migratory or wintering? This question interests many readers. In the article you will find the answer to it, and also find out where these birds live, how they reproduce, and what food they consume.
Description of the bird's appearance
Many observant readers are interested in information about the starling, whether it is a migratory bird or not, and a description of this bird. The starling is considered one of the largest and most resourceful birds belonging to the passerine order. These birds are from the Starling family and number more than 100 species. The size of the starling is considered average for passerines. The weight of an adult bird is about 75 g, body length is 20-22 cm, wingspan is 40 cm. Starlings are characterized by the following external characteristics:
- Black plumage with a metallic tint, molting in the spring and turning brown. Some birds have purple, bronze, greenish, bluish tints on their feathers.
- Males are slightly larger than females and brighter.
- They have a sharp and long beak, slightly curved downwards. The beak also has the property of changing color. Most of the time it is black for the starling, but during the mating season it turns yellow.
- The bird's paws are large and strong, brown-red in color with curved claws.
- It has a massive body, a short neck and a short tail.
Is the common starling a migratory bird or not?
This noisy and chirping bird can be found in almost all parts of the world, because it easily adapts to various natural conditions.
The most favorite places for starlings to settle are Australia, Eurasia, New Zealand, and North America. Starlings rarely visit Central and South America. They take root well in Russia, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Iraq. People have already settled these birds in Africa and Australia.
Is the common starling a migratory bird or not? The answer to this question is twofold. Starlings in the western and southern parts of Europe lead a sedentary life, that is, they stay here for the winter. But in Russia, in the east and north of Europe, it is cold for them to winter, so they fly to southern countries. Many people in the spring could observe whether the starling is a migratory bird or not. The photos in the article show the spring colonization of starlings in their wooden houses when they return from the southern regions.
The favorite habitat of these birds is flat terrain. They do not fly into mountainous areas. They choose areas near rivers or swamps as their preferred places to settle. Sometimes they can be found in steppe areas and open forests. Starlings' homes are often found near farms and human houses. They like to settle near fields where they get their food. Most birds live in hollows or under niches of buildings. They are also not averse to living in cozy birdhouses built by people.
Description of the bird's lifestyle
Starlings live in colonies, forming flocks. You can often see thousands of birds flying by, resembling a swarm of bees in the distance. The birds perform complex pirouettes one after another, and the whole flock seems to be one whole organism. Before landing, they hover above the ground, and then scatter over a wide area.
They also gather in groups to spend the night. For this, places where willows and reeds grow are suitable for them. In a city park or garden, they simply sleep on the branches of trees and bushes. In those countries where they winter, flocks can number up to a million individuals.
During the hatching period, starlings live in their own small territory and do not allow other birds to enter. They find food on river banks, crops, vegetable gardens, and in villages. They do not carry food into the nest; they eat it to the side.
Starlings are aggressive towards other birds; they compete for nesting sites. Birds such as rollers and green woodpeckers fall prey to their behavior. The lifespan of this songbird is approximately 10-12 years. Watching the starling, you will notice that it is a rather nimble bird, although small in size.
Diet of starlings
Funny starlings feed on both plant and animal foods. The most suitable spring food for them are earthworms, which appear on the surface with the first rays of sunlight. They also happily feed on larvae that overwinter in the bark of trees. In summer, starlings feast on caterpillars, butterflies, grasshoppers, apples, pears, plums, cherries, and sour cherries. In some ways, starlings can be called saviors from pests.
Reproduction method
In the spring, having flown from southern countries, starlings enter the mating season. In European and Asian countries, they manage to hatch chicks three times from spring to autumn. To do this, the birds are divided into pairs. Then they look for nesting places and bring dry parts of plants there. Moss, feathers, and grass are placed on top of the bird. A male can court several females at once.
The first clutch of eggs can contain from 6 to 10 eggs. The female lays eggs once a day. Then she hatches them. The eggs are light blue in color and reach 3 cm in length and 2 cm in width. The weight of one is 6.5 g.
Sometimes the female is replaced by a male while incubating the offspring. Chicks are born on days 11-13. They are completely naked and blind. At first they behave completely silently. As soon as the parents threw the egg shells out of the nest, the chicks appeared. Adults begin to look for food for their offspring. They bring insects to the chicks, which is a complete protein food. Parents can fly for food up to 300 times per day. After three weeks of life, the chicks make their first flight. Parents use various tricks to lure them out of the nest.
Do starlings have enemies?
The most ardent enemies of starlings are crows and magpies. These birds are capable of destroying their nests. Also, small birds are afraid of eagles, golden eagles, peregrine falcons, owls, and falcons. These predators make their way to nests in search of eggs and chicks, which they eat. Cats, martens, and snakes can also get to the nest and eat the small chicks.
Starlings next to a person
The relationship between people and starlings is twofold. In the past, people spent more time in nature and admired the early songbirds. So, there were cases when starlings were put in a cage like a canary or a nightingale. In captivity, they behave perfectly: they actively chirp and jump. By destroying locusts, slugs and chafers, starlings bring considerable benefits to humans. An important feature of their diet is that they eat insects in the larval stage, looking for them in the ground.
In addition to benefits, these birds can also cause harm to business owners. By eating fruits and berries, they destroy crops in gardens and vineyards. They especially love strawberries and cherries. Damaged goods become unfit for consumption after their raids. Farmers deal with the attacks of these birds in different ways. They stock up on nets, traps, scarecrows and sound devices.
City dwellers are also not exactly fond of starlings, who pollute sidewalks, roofs and trees with their excrement. You can often see benches and alleys in parks covered in bird excrement with an unpleasant odor. Park workers have to carefully monitor this. In certain places, they even try to catch starlings with nets and scare them off with spotlights and sound signals.
If you observe starlings, you can note some of their features:
- In flight, the starling makes fast and even movements, but in the process of catching insects, it makes irregular movements.
- Starlings are excellent at imitating sounds. They repeat the sounds and voices of other birds. It is not difficult for them to imitate a telephone ringing, the creaking of a door, the croaking of a frog, the meowing of a cat, or some kind of melody.
- Starlings can flock to branches in such large flocks that they break them off.
- At the end of the nesting season, old starlings unite with the young into noisy flocks and go to warm countries for the winter.
- Small starling chicks are very voracious; one chick eats three times more than an adult.
Is the nightingale a migratory bird?
It is no secret that the nightingale looks similar to the lesser starling. Therefore, many are interested in whether the nightingale and starling are migratory birds or not.
Nightingales are birds from the order Passeriformes. This is a small bird with brownish plumage, a reddish tail, dark eyes, and long legs. Thanks to its singing talents, the nightingale has become a symbol for many writers and poets. Many people say that this little bird doesn’t just sing, but sings. The singing is particularly sonorous and has a large number of intonations.
There are more than 20 species of nightingales. The most common is the common nightingale. It is a migratory bird and goes to Africa for wintering. Nightingales settle mainly in dense bushes, near rivers or lakes. In April, nightingales return to their nesting sites. They immediately make themselves known with their flute-like, clicking and crackling singing at night or at dawn.
Skvortsov. The body length is about 23 cm, and the weight is about 75 g. Due to the short neck and massive body, the impression of clumsiness is created. His legs are strong and big
curved claws. The beak is long, thin, yellow, slightly drooping downwards. The tail is shortened and straight. The color of the feathers in spring is black with a metallic sheen. The bird, whose plumage description depends on the season, becomes black with white speckles by autumn.
Almost everyone has known about the benefits of the common starling, which was discussed above, since childhood. In the spring, they walk through fields, parks and gardens, looking for and eating insects and larvae. In summer they feed on caterpillars and beetles, and during the period of feeding chicks they fly to the nest about 300 times a day, bringing several beetles each time.
The common starling is a migratory bird, flying to warm countries for the winter, usually to northern Africa or southern Europe. After such travels, various “potpourri” appear in the repertoire of this singing bird, including “African melodies” borrowed from wintering birds.
Many people associate the starling with the birdhouse, but it makes its nests in hollows in trees. But finding them can be difficult. But a person wants to place this useful bird closer to him, so he installs birdhouses. And her “work” is always near human habitation.
In addition to the ordinary species, an interesting representative of this family is a bird that fully lives up to its name. It settles near steppes, desert or semi-desert plains, as it feeds mainly on locusts. Of course, if it is not there, it can eat other insects. But the locusts are the main thing. For her sake, he is able to fly a long distance. A pink starling can eat up to 200 grams of locusts (twice its weight) in a day. The bird feeds its offspring with it.
These birds move in dense flocks. From a distance it looks like some kind of pink cloud. Having fallen to the ground, they continue to move in one direction,
collecting and eating insects as they run. The pink starling is a peace-loving bird; fights and quarrels do not arise between them. They live in colonies of several hundred pairs. Nests are made in rock crevices, in various burrows, between stones.
This family also includes the catkin starling, a bird that is only similar in size to its relatives and lives exclusively in Africa. The adjective in the name comes from the fact that during the breeding season, males develop fleshy growths on their heads that resemble earrings. They build nests in trees, not in hollows, using a lot of dry twigs, creating a dome-shaped structure. There can be many such “houses” on one plant, because This bird is also colonial. The catkin starling feeds exclusively on locusts. The bird even hatches its chicks at a time when these insects stop moving and stop to reproduce. With the resumption of movement of the locusts, the birds move from their place and follow it.
Starlings are so different, but they are all, of course, useful for humans. Some peoples even consider it a crime to kill this wonderful bird.
Starling songbirds belong to the Starling family of the order Passeriformes. They not only sing melodiously and are distinguished by the abilities of mockingbirds, but also destroy insects, for which they are loved in all corners of our planet where they were brought by humans.
There are about 10 species of starlings, which differ mainly in the regions of their residence. The most famous of them is the common starling, a resident of Eurasia.
Starlings are thrush-sized birds with a long and straight beak with a slightly flattened tip, a short tail and sharp wings. Their plumage is predominantly black with white patches and a characteristic multi-colored tint.
What does it eat?
Starlings are omnivorous birds that find their food depending on the time of year.
In spring, they prefer animal food - earthworms, insects and arthropods (spiders, caterpillars, butterflies, grasshoppers). In summer and autumn, they willingly eat plant food: fruits, vegetables, berries, seeds.
Starlings can use their large and strong beak as a kind of lever to open fruits protected by a hard skin or shell.
Habitat and distribution area
The distribution range of starlings is very wide. Each species has its own characteristics in distribution, and in general, the natural habitats of these birds include all regions of Europe and Asia, as well as North Africa.
Certain species of starlings were brought by humans to North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. The spread of starlings was facilitated primarily by their reputation as excellent pest fighters.
Starlings inhabit the plains and rarely climb the mountains. They willingly choose housing close to a person.
The starling's migration directly depends on its habitat. All birds living in the northern regions migrate south for the winter and are considered migratory birds. Their migration begins in September-October, and the distance that starlings travel reaches 2,000 km. Birds return to their native lands at the end of March or in April.
Starlings, which live in southern Europe and Asia and Africa, are sedentary birds.
Species
The bird is up to 22 cm in length with a wingspan of about 38 cm and weighs 70-80 g. The long and sharp beak is slightly curved downwards. The color of the back and belly of females and males is no different: black plumage with a metallic sheen of purple, green, blue or brown. The species is distributed throughout Eurasia.
The species lives in southern Asia. This is a bird 20 cm in length, with a wingspan of up to 12 cm and weighing about 50 g. The back of the bird is brownish-gray, the breast and belly are beige-brown. The head is decorated with shimmering black feathers that form a crest. The beak is yellow. Sometimes the Brahminy Starling is confused with the Pink Starling, but it differs in that it does not have black feathers on its chest.
The body length of birds is up to 25 cm. The plumage of the head, neck and chest is light brown. The belly is pink-gray. The back is dark gray, sometimes with a slight metallic tint. The species lives in the countries of Indochina, including Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
Lives in the south and west of China. It reaches 20-24 cm in length. Males have a white head and abdomen with a brown or gray tint. The chest, back and sides are dark gray. The plumage of the tail and wings is black with a green, blue or purple metallic tint. The beak, according to the name, of this species is red.
The main habitat of this species is south and southeast Asia. The bird is similar to the black-necked starling, but smaller in size. The male and female are very similar. The plumage of their head, throat, chest and back is black. The cheeks and lower body are white and gray. The wings and tail are brown-black with white feathers. The beak is orange-red.
The species reaches a length of 22 cm, a wingspan of up to 14 cm, a weight of 60-90 g. It is distinguished by its contrasting unusual plumage: black with a metallic sheen on the head, neck and chest and pastel pink abdomen and back. On the head there is a crest of long feathers. The beak is thicker and shorter compared to the common starling. The pink starling lives in southeastern Europe and Central Asia.
This relatively small species lives in India and China. The body length reaches 22 cm, weight - 45 g. The bird's head is white-gray, the cheeks and back of the head have a silvery tint. The beak is interesting: blue base, green middle and yellow tip. The back is brown-gray, the belly is brown.
A songbird with a body length of up to 25 cm. Resident of East Asia. The breast, abdomen and rump of this species are light gray in color. The feathers on the head are streaked with black and black-brown; there are tufts of white feathers on the cheeks. The beak is yellow-orange with a dark tip.
The species lives on the islands of Java and Bali in Indonesia. Its body length is 22-24 cm, its wingspan is up to 130 cm. The color of the plumage of this species is mainly white, except for black wings and a tail with a white stripe at the end. The feathers on the head are brown in color and form a crest at the back of the head. The beak and legs are yellow.
One of the largest representatives of the starling species with a body length of up to 30 cm and a wingspan of up to 16 cm. Distributed in southeast China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The back, tail and wings are black with white patches, the head and belly are white. On the neck there is a collar of black shiny feathers.
Inhabitant of Europe and North Africa. Bird dimensions: 19-22 cm in length, 13-14 cm wingspan, 80-115 g weight. The species is very similar to the common starling. The predominant color of its plumage is black with a metallic tint of purple or green. The tail is short and straight. The beak is sharp and long, curved downwards.
Male and female: main differences
Sexual dimorphism in all starling species is rather weakly expressed. So, for example, the male and female common starling differ in the feathers on their chest - in females they are more graceful and shorter. In addition, females have red dots at the base of the beak, while males have a blue spot.
In other species, females and young are slightly lighter than male starlings.
Keeping at home
In captivity, a starling will need a cage with a minimum size of 70 cm by 30 cm by 45 cm with a separate container for bathing and drinking, as these birds love to swim. The water is changed daily.
What to feed
Birds are absolutely unpretentious in nutrition. The diet is often based on a nightingale mixture of grated carrots, eggs and white crackers. They also add fish food (daphnia, gammarus), meat (pieces of chicken or beef), plant and grain seeds, vegetables (everything except legumes and potatoes), herbs, pieces of fruit and berries.
The only downside to keeping these birds is their sloppiness. Starlings are truly dirty, you need to clean up after them often.
Breeding in captivity
Starlings can nest at home if the pair is provided with cozy conditions and peace. The eggs (up to 5 in one clutch) are incubated by the female for 12 days. It takes about 3 weeks for the chicks to grow up after birth.
- In nature, starlings live up to 12 years, and in captivity - even up to 20 years;
- Starlings are very aggressive towards other bird species, and can displace species from their usual habitats, as, for example, happened in North America during the conflict between the starling and the green woodpecker;
- Starlings are known as pest fighters, but they can also cause harm to humans - destroy crops of grain plants and vineyards;
- Starlings like to live in large flocks; during migration, several thousand individuals can gather together for the night.
- The synchronized migration of large flocks of starlings is called murmuration. This is a very beautiful and fascinating phenomenon - many birds seem to dance in the air, forming various intricate figures that decrease and increase in size in the sky. Murmuration remains a mystery in bird behavior for scientists today. This process cannot be reproduced even with the most modern technology.
Singing
Starlings are not only distinguished by their own ringing iridescent trills, which consist of whistling, creaking, hissing sounds, but are also excellent mockingbirds. Perhaps there is no melody that a starling could not reproduce. The song of a thrush, an oriole, a swallow, a lark or a jay - he can perform any song.
Moreover, the starling can eavesdrop and perfectly copy melodies from the life around him - the croaking of frogs, the barking of dogs, the bleating of sheep.
And at home, a starling can not only be tamed, but also taught to speak short phrases and tongue twisters.
Wild birds sometimes surprise with their beauty, but there are also individuals who have other talents, for example, amazing singing. This individual is one of these; many are interested in whether the starling is a migratory bird or not. There are also other features and nuances that should be paid attention to in more detail, but you need to start with a description of the bird.
The differences between individuals of the two sexes are practically not expressed, both visually and in size. The autumn plumage looks new and impressive; after the renewal of the plumage, the surface of the body is covered with thick ocher and whitish streaks, as well as speckles, which almost completely hide the black color of the individual. The beak has a dark tint, the legs are pink-ocher, and the iris is brown.
Closer to spring, the light areas on the feathers wear out, and the feathers become sharper. In mid-spring, the starling looks almost completely black, but at the same time it brings a certain charm with a metallic sheen - bronze, violet, green and purple. During this period, the starling bird already has a yellow beak, and the base acquires a bluish tint. A little streaking remains on the wings during the mating season, in the area of the undertail and on the back.
The common starling (lat. Sturnus vulgaris) is a species of songbird of the order Passeriformes, family Starlings, genus Starlings
Juveniles are brown in color, with longitudinal blurred streaks, a light throat, a dark frenulum from the eye to the beak and a dark beak. The legs are not so bright, they have a grayish-ocher color. In August and early autumn, young birds begin to molt, and their black-and-white plumage emerges. An ordinary starling in flight has short pointed wings with a white underside, a short tail, and a long beak pointed at the end - these characteristics make it possible to distinguish the individual from other similar flocking birds of the same proportion, for example, waxwings and thrushes. The following description of the starling bird for children can be distinguished:
- black plumage with iridescence;
- yellow or dark beak;
- massive paws;
- unusual singing;
- short ponytail;
- pointed beak.
The starling's song is quite unusual; it consists of loud chirping and whistling motifs, it consists of various pieces borrowed from other birds, as well as from other sources. When singing, the starling opens its mouth wide, the plumage on the throat part puffs up, regularly adjusting its wings to half its spread. A cry of distress and a call to action sounds characteristic. The flock is very noisy, making chirping sounds.
Dimensions
The body is about 25 centimeters long, the wingspan is about 40 centimeters, and the weight is 90 grams. Due to its dense build and minimal knowledge of what a starling looks like, you can easily recognize the bird in various conditions. A long, straight, sharp beak, a shortened tail, and strong massive legs are characteristics that significantly simplify the recognition of an individual.
In flight, the wings create a triangular shape, slightly pointed. By the way, the bird flies very well and can maneuver in confined spaces. He also runs and walks quickly. Almost its entire life it leads a gregarious existence.
The habitat of the starling bird is quite wide, it can be found almost throughout the entire territory of Eurasia, from the taiga to the subtropics, in the last few decades it began to be noticed in the Trans-Boikal region, in the northern part of Europe it was possible to reach the forest-tundra, as well as in Western and Southern Europe, the Caucasus , Middle East. In some territories it lives all year round, but in warmer times the flock is replenished with migrants from the northern regions, where winters are harsher and snowier. Now it is clear whether the starling is a migratory bird or not.
Sometimes the starling can even fly to Asia and Africa, where there is a comfortable subtropical climate. Introduced in warm South Africa, cool New Zealand and Australia, as well as on the island territories of Oceania. In the European part of Russia, common varieties are common in normal quantities, although there are significant fluctuations. Recent studies show a sharp decline in numbers.
The habitat of the starling bird is quite wide; it can be found almost throughout the entire territory of Eurasia
In their places of nesting, which are mainly located in the middle zone, they appear in early March, when the snow melts, and fly away in August and the first months of autumn. Some individuals remain in their homeland if the winter is not snowy, and they also like to live in city conditions close to trash cans
It prefers to live in cities and towns, or rather in parks and gardens, inhabiting empty cavities in human buildings or birdhouses. Under natural conditions, it settles in cliffs, abandoned burrows, and wooden hollows. Colonies are rarely formed. Not everyone knows what the starling eats, so this issue should be dealt with in more detail. The diet is dominated by insects; birds find food under trees. Larvae and earthworms are taken out of soft soil and follow the plow in the spring season when the land is irrigated. They can often be seen on the lawn near people, much less often they explore the crowns in search of food, and also hunt insects in flight.
The starling prefers to live in cities and towns, in parks and gardens, populating empty cavities in human buildings or birdhouses
July and August allow you to add berries to the diet; in the past, flocks of starlings caused enormous damage to the crop. In most cases they are monogamous, although representatives of bigamy are registered.
Throughout the summer, birds migrate in entire families; flocks gradually form and try to move to open areas. In August, before sleeping at night, flocks of thousands of birds perform complex aerobatic maneuvers in the air, constantly changing their configuration. It is surprising that all the birds show synchronized work.
Many people are interested in where starlings spend the winter. During this period, school roosts are formed, usually on tree branches, but in most cases in reed groves.
When autumn approaches, males begin to sing a lot, but not with such intensity as in the spring season. Departure occurs at the end of summer, and may last until early autumn. The starling is a migratory bird, although some individuals remain at home. Until the first year, individuals do not reproduce; they lead a nomadic lifestyle all summer, and begin nesting only when they reach two years of age. Life expectancy is on average 15-20 years.
Reproduction
After choosing a nesting dream, the male calls the female with his singing; the beginning of incubation stops the singing of the livers. Sometimes the male representative builds a nest even without the female, however, the partners are engaged in construction together, spending a lot of time searching for materials. The clutch contains about 4-8 eggs; they are pale blue in color, which quickly fades. The incubation period lasts about 2 weeks, both parents incubate the eggs alternately, at night only the female.
At birth, chicks are covered with thick, long grayish-white down. After the chicks appear, the family’s place of residence becomes very noticeable, because the parents constantly visit the offspring with food, carrying white droppings from the nest, while chirping loudly. 20 days after the egg is born, the brood flies out of the nest. As a rule, departure occurs in May. Some couples have two litters in one season.
L. STISHKOVSKAYA.
Science and life // Illustrations
Mynas on horseback.
Starlings are cute, good-natured and intelligent birds. They sing not only in spring, but also in autumn, and once in a cage - almost all year round.
An adult mynah has a short crest of bluish-black feathers on its head.
The sacred myna is the dream of many bird lovers.
Science and life // Illustrations
The starling grabbed the caterpillar: maybe he will eat it himself, or maybe he will feed it to his chicks.
The sacred mynah has black, shiny feathers, a white “mirror” on its wings, two large yellow skin outgrowths on the back of its head, and two smaller outgrowths under the eyes. The beak and legs are yellow.
November. There is snow everywhere, the rivers are frozen. A long time ago, swallows, nightingales, and larks lived in warm regions. The starlings also flew away. But who is that walking around the meat processing plant? As many as twelve birds. All have thin, long beaks, short necks and tails, rather thick and strong legs, and black feathers with grayish-white triangular specks. Well, of course, starlings.
Several months will pass, and these starlings, like those that return from wintering in northern Africa, from Western and Southern Europe, and Western Asia, will be transformed. The specks on their feathers will disappear, and the birds will become irresistible: black with a strong metallic sheen, green or purple. This is what the males will look like in the spring. The females' outfit is much more modest: their feathers are duller, and there are often light specks at the tips.
There is hardly a person who can imagine spring without starlings sitting near birdhouses and singing. Birds wintering in warm regions return to the middle zone of our country in March. They do not always live in houses made for them. Starlings make nests in eaves, behind platbands, in the voids of outbuildings, in the hollows of old trees, tall stumps and pillars, in holes in clay cliffs. The nests are made from last year's grass, the long stems of which often protrude from the hole. Small blades of grass and feathers are also used in construction.
Everyone knows that starlings are useful birds. Looking for food, they walk on the ground with their heads down. With their long beak they grab May and June beetles, catch weevils, cutworm caterpillars, and a variety of orthoptera in the grass and trees.
This is not the only reason why people have been making houses for starlings for a long time. These birds, as you know, are songbirds, in addition mockingbirds: they imitate the calls and songs of other birds. There are starlings that copy the voices of twelve species of birds, in particular the white-browed thrush, lentil, oriole, and great spotted woodpecker. Listening to starlings, you can find in their songs the song of a willow warbler, the twitter of a barn swallow, the alarming cry of a finch, the cry of a female cuckoo, as well as the croaking of frogs, growling, barking of dogs and other sounds.
Starlings sing not only in spring, but also in autumn, and once in a cage, they sing almost all year round. In the past, good songbird catchers did not hunt every starling. Here is what the excellent bird connoisseur I.K. Shamov wrote: from the starling “what is required is the sonorous neighing of a horse, a “colt,” the song of an oriole, warblers, lentils, various Easter cake whistles, a “running” whistle (that is, a special whistle of barge haulers leading a barge along river) and a large set of little things..."
However, both in the past and now, many people keep starlings because they are cute, good-natured and intelligent birds. How to get out of the cage to fly around the room? This problem is insoluble for many birds. And the starling lifts the cage door up with its beak and finds itself “in the wild.”
Within a few days after being caught, starlings stop rushing around the cage and are afraid of people. Almost fifty years ago, the famous ornithologist L.B. Boehme wrote about his starling: “A large all-metal cage with him stood on my desk. The starling lived with me for a long time and completely stopped not only being shy of me, but even turning any attention towards me. attention. Often in the evening, when I was studying at the table, the starling began to sing his long, creaking improvisations incessantly a few centimeters from me and, understandably, distracted me from working. However, it was not so easy to deal with the starling and calm it down if I stuck it in; put a pencil into the cage and pushed the starling with it, he simply moved away from him, without stopping singing.”
Another member of the starling family that is kept in a cage is the mynah. When this bird walks proudly on the ground, it looks very elegant. An adult mynah has a short crest of bluish-black feathers on its head. The back is chocolate-brown, the throat is black-gray, the middle of the abdomen is white, everything else is pinkish-brown. The featherless spot near the eye, as well as the beak and legs, is yellow.
In their homeland - in the extreme south and southeast of Asia, and in particular in India - mynas, like simple starlings, are common inhabitants of villages and cities. There are a lot of these birds in Delhi. In winter, mynahs live in the same place where they hatch their chicks. They can nest not only in pairs, but also in colonies in the hollows of old trees, under the roofs of squat and tall houses, on water towers, in the crevices of destroyed buildings. Nests are built from dry stems, and twigs, bark, wool, and paper are placed in a small depression. Their eggs are dazzling blue. Mynahs feed their children only insects, often locusts - pests of cultivated plants. They themselves feed on them. In addition, mynas kill these insects. In a year, a pair of birds destroys about 150,000 locusts. Mynas, like starlings, can often be seen on the backs of cows and sheep, which they free from ticks and insects.
Mynas easily adapt to new living conditions. In this century, their settlement in Central Asia began. However, as it turned out, these birds are not the only ones that can live there.
Once I saw a mynah in a pet store, I immediately bought it: I wanted to teach it to speak. But the only thing that really interested her was: how to get out of the enclosure? And one day, when I was putting things in order in mynah’s home, she succeeded. The window was open, and with a loud cry of joy the bird flew out of the room.
This happened in the spring. I couldn’t find a place for myself: through my fault the lane will now die, Moscow is not Delhi. Imagine my surprise when I soon read a message that in winter, in January, mynahs were seen at a bird feeder in Moscow's Kuzminki Park. In another district of Moscow, in Golyanov, on the edge of a forest adjacent to the territory of a large pig farm, three pairs of mynahs lived. They began singing their songs at the end of March, and at the beginning of April they began to look for suitable hollows in the trees.
As it turned out later, mynas are able to withstand even the harsh winters characteristic of the Leningrad region. A batch of these birds was accidentally released by a zoo center that was supplying animals for sale. And mynas were found on the Karelian Isthmus and in other northern regions of the region. In spring and summer, birds lived in meadows, fields and pastures. They mostly lived in pairs. Sometimes they occupied birdhouses and even began nesting.
The fact that mynahs can live in harsh climates is also evidenced by this fact. The bird, which spent more than two years in a cage, was released in May in the north of the Karelian Isthmus, and in December it was caught in South Karelia. In winter, mynahs find food on pig farms and meat processing plants, on feeding tables and garbage dumps in holiday villages.
The dream of many indoor bird lovers is sacred mynas. These are the best imitators among starlings. They neglect the cultural landscape and everything connected with it. They live on the edges of dense forests in India, Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indochina and Malaysia. The feathers of these birds are black and shiny, there is a white “mirror” on the wings, two large yellow skin outgrowths on the back of the head, and two smaller outgrowths under the eyes. The beak and legs are yellow.
Sacred mynas vary in size. Depending on the varieties, of which there are only ten, their length ranges from 24 to 37 centimeters. They form pairs for life, and outside the breeding season they keep in flocks. Sacred myna nests are built in hollows. One pair raises their chicks about a kilometer away from the other. These mynas feed mainly on fruits. The same food is given to birds trapped in cages.
Fruits: grapes, cherries, cherries, apples, cherry plums, bird cherry fruits, currants, rowan berries - are loved by both common mynas and starlings. In winter, these birds are also given mealworms, South American and other cockroaches, crickets, boiled meat, in the summer - May, June and other beetles, their larvae, grasshoppers, etc. In addition, starlings are fed a mixture of grated carrots with breadcrumbs, to which they add powder from dried gammarus, as well as crushed hemp, millet porridge, white bread soaked in milk.
Starlings are quite large birds, and they quickly pollute cages. Therefore, it is better to keep them in enclosures. Clean river sand should be poured onto pallets in a thick layer and changed as often as possible. Starlings love to swim; a bath of warm water should be placed in their home or room every day.
Common starlings live 20 years in the wild, and 17 years in captivity.