5 February 2025
Throughout January’s chilly snap, flocks of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) all of the sudden swarmed yard chook feeders and everybody wished they’d simply “Go away!”
Because it occurs starlings are going away, although possibly not rapidly in your yard.
Regardless of its success and huge numbers, the European Starling is now in steep decline, like so many different species in North America. The present inhabitants is half the scale it was 50 years in the past – down from an estimated 166.2 million breeding birds in 1970 to 85.1 million. The species can be declining in Europe.(*)
— Cornell Chronicle: Starling success traced to fast adaptation, Feb 2021, emphasis added
The decline is straightforward to see in purple on eBird’s European starling Developments map, 2012-2022.
In only a decade starlings declined 14.9% in North America, largely within the Midwest and particularly Illinois the place they’re down 24.5%.
Regardless of this, many people fear that starlings are having a damaging influence on cavity-nesting native birds — however they don’t seem to be.
Starlings usually take over the nests of native birds, expelling the occupants. With so many starlings round, there may be concern about their impact on native chook populations. However, a examine in 2003 discovered few precise results on populations of 27 native species. Solely sapsuckers confirmed declines on account of starlings; different species gave the impression to be holding their very own in opposition to the invaders.
“Solely sapsuckers confirmed declines?” Fortuitously this isn’t fairly the case in Pennsylvania. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers have declined in sure areas of PA however in others they’ve elevated. In areas of overlap with starlings, such because the western I-80 hall, sapsuckers have elevated. [I-80 is under the word “Pennsylvania” on the maps below.]
In the meantime, starlings have declined greater than sapsuckers total and haven’t appreciably elevated within the sapsuckers’ vary. Evaluate the 2 Developments maps beneath.
If you happen to don’t like starlings, don’t fear. The issue is caring for itself.
(*) Within the UK the starling inhabitants dropped 80% in simply 25 years from 1987 to 2012. That is very worrisome as a result of they’re a local chook in Europe.
