European Starling
Learn to identify the European Starling by ear. Master the "chattering ramble" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the European Starling sounds like
A highly varied mix of musical whistles, clicks, rattles, and harsh chatters. The European Starling's song is a continuous stream of sounds that can include high clear notes, buzzy trills, and imitations of other noises. Males often sing in spring from high perches (like tree tops or rooftops), sometimes fluttering their wings. The song can sound discordant and rambling to the human ear, with sequences of warbling interspersed with mechanical-sounding tones.
How to tell it apart
Lessons featuring the European Starling
Ready to test your ear? Practice identifying the European Starling's sounds in these interactive in-app lessons.
Where you'll hear it
European Starlings are widespread year-round, but they are not all stay-at-homes: many northern birds move south in fall and return in spring.
Open areas with scattered trees, urban and suburban environments, farmlands
Most active during daylight hours, forming large flocks especially in fall and winter
How to recognize it by sight
Medium-sized, short-tailed songbird with glossy black plumage. Depending on the light, adults show iridescent purples and greens, especially on the head and chest.
Similar species
Common Grackle
Grackles are larger (about 12 inches) with a longer keel-shaped tail and a more slender body. A male Common Grackle has a glossy purple-blue head and bronzy body (in the east) and a very distinctly bright yellow eye. Grackles lack the starling's seasonal spots and have a uniform dark plumage (no speckles). In flight, grackles have a slower wingbeat and the long tail often appears as a trailing V-shape. Also, grackles typically do not mimic sounds; their calls are harsh "readle-eak" or "squawk" sounds, different from starlings' mix of whistles.
Brewer's Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbirds are found mostly in the Midwest and West (with some overlap in the Great Plains and parts of the Mississippi Valley). Male Brewer's Blackbirds are uniformly iridescent black with a purplish sheen and have bright pale yellow eyes, but they lack any spotting or speckling. Females are gray-brown with dark eyes. Both sexes have longer tails and a more slender build than starlings. Their bill is also shorter and not as pointed as a starling's.