Gray Starling - description, habitat, interesting facts

Starling is a bird from the order of passerines, can sing, mock up and destroy harmful insects beautifully, for which it is loved by man. There are about a dozen species of this bird living on the continent of Eurasia, one of them is a gray starling.

Description

Gray starling no larger than a blackbird, 20–25 centimeters long. Above, it has feathers of brown or smoky color, chest, nadhvost and belly a little brighter - light gray or dirty white. The feather cover on the head is either completely white with a large number of black mottles, or black-brown with white mottles. But in both cases, tufts of white feathers stand out on the cheeks. The eyes are usually brown. The beak is yellow with a splash of orange, the tip is dark. The tail is brown, on average 6.5 centimeters long, the legs are similar in color to the beak - yellow and orange. Females are slightly different in color - slightly lighter than males. The voice of starlings of all breeds is the same - sharp crackling and clicking.

Habitat

Distributed in Japan, Korea, nests in Northeast China, Mongolia, feels at ease throughout the entire East Asian territory. In Russia, it occurs mainly in the eastern territories - in the south of Transbaikalia and Pribaikalye, in Primorye, on the southern extremities of the Kuril Islands and the Sakhalin Peninsula. For living and nesting, it prefers flat, treeless terrain - city gardens and parks, small groves, a rare forest, pastures. A forest with dense and abundant vegetation does not appeal to it.

Lifestyle

They fly in the same large flocks, managing to soar synchronously, turn and go in for landing — a clear and strict organization is felt.

Gray starling is not a very good neighbor: for a profitable area where you can nest and live, he will fight with any birds.

Wintering

All gray starlings, except those living in Japan, go to the warm lands for the winter, overcoming several thousand kilometers - they fly to the north of Africa, to the warm regions of India and so on. As a rule, flights begin with the onset of frost - from September to early November. Young growth that does not have nests flies away in the summer.

Food

In the diet, the gray starling does not limit itself to anything - it consumes both animal and vegetable foods. Although it prefers, of course, more living organisms. It feeds away from the nest, eats all sorts of insects: bugs, bears, ants and others. It also readily eats and eats their larvae. It hunts crayfish, shrimp, frogs, newts, lizards. From vegetarian food, the diet includes cherries, berries of various plants growing on trees and fruits lying on the ground, seeds of wild and cultivated cereals, vegetables.

Breeding

From the wintering males are the first to arrive and begin to bother about finding places to stay. In addition to birdhouses nestled specially for starlings, these birds love to settle in attics and under the roofs of buildings, in holes in the wall, hollows. Having picked up a place for nesting, they spread it from the inside by ripped thickets of last year's grass, also with their own feathers or those of others.

Eggs are laid twice a season - the first time in late April or early May. From 2 to 10 eggs of blue color are laid and they incubate for about two weeks - 12-14 days. Both parents engage in incubation, although the male often goes away in search of food.

Chicks are born completely naked, non-self-dependent, the first days only the male is engaged in feeding, continuously dragging more and more portions of food. In the first days, soft food is brought, harder (locusts, grasshoppers, snails, etc.), the male drags later - when the brood grows up, and the mother at this time warms the children with warmth. During this time, replenishment in the starling family can be found only by the remains of the shell that fell on the ground - the chicks behave so quietly. After 21-24 days they grow up, stand on the wing and begin an independent life.

Interesting

1. The life of a gray starling in nature has been documented and confirmed - it is about 12 years, and in captivity reaches 20.
2. Starlings are great mimics. And the gray starling is no exception. Usually they imitate ambient sounds - the singing of Russian and subtropical birds, the barking of dogs, the meowing of cats, the mooing of cows, the creak of a well gate and an opening gate, the roar of the motor of an approaching car, and so on. The more years the singer, the richer his repertoire.
3. Despite the fact that starlings benefit a person by destroying insect pests, the harm from these birds is also enough - so, having got a taste and carried away by catching prey, they can destroy crops, vineyards, eating grain and berries. For example, the Australians even created a special service for starling hunters.
4. Making flights, birds overcome about 90 kilometers in one day, making 3-4 stops during the day.
5. The huge flock of starlings that formed makes an impression, but some people in Europe take this very negatively. For example, the Romans try not to leave the house. Bird din and twitter can be heard for many kilometers and often overlaps even the noise of vehicles and vehicles.
6. Tamed very easily. To do this, it is enough to feed the starling from time to time and after a short time it will start to sit on your hand and take crumbs or proposed bugs.
7. If a male after arrival from wintering could not find a pair, then until the next spring he lives alone.