This lead me to think that we should refer to starlings as 'yellow beaks'. This would give new-comers a simple way to easily identify startlings.
Death to the yellow beaks!
Jeff
Destroy yellow beaks
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Guest
In a discussion about telling others how to identify starlings on the Michigan martin forum, the administrator (Mark Dietrich) made the observation that the starling is the only large blackish colored North American bird with a yellow beak. This is an excellent (and probably the easiest) way to identify starlings.
This lead me to think that we should refer to starlings as 'yellow beaks'. This would give new-comers a simple way to easily identify startlings.
Death to the yellow beaks!
Jeff
This lead me to think that we should refer to starlings as 'yellow beaks'. This would give new-comers a simple way to easily identify startlings.
Death to the yellow beaks!
Jeff
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kimball911
- Posts: 180
- Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 6:33 pm
- Location: Kansas/Iola
Aren't juvenile starlings beaks black? I think they are, but not sure how long until it turns yellow.
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Guest
Good question. Maybe someone can jump in here and clarify that. Even so, the yellow beak identification should be useful to those getting started or that (like in my case) have eye sight that isn't quite as good as it used to be.
Jeff
Jeff
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
They turn yellow during the mating season. I think they are darker in the early winter..
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Sigundo
Of course from the BACK, the good old American Robin is dark with a yellow-ish beak. Naturally unmistakable from any other angle, but I did draw a bead on a robin once, but I take time for a shot, so avoided a horrible mistake.. all it has to do is turn its head a bit and you see the ringed eye.
But true enough, before I started martining, I didn't know what a starling was, and just called them "yellow beaked birds". The juveniles always threw me though, I just called them "looks like a yellow beaked bird, but has a black beak".
Luckily for the world, I wasn't in charge of bird classification.. you don't wanna know what I call the yellow birds that eat 10 buck a bag thistle and then waste 5 seeds for every one they actually eat... but thats another subject entirely.
But true enough, before I started martining, I didn't know what a starling was, and just called them "yellow beaked birds". The juveniles always threw me though, I just called them "looks like a yellow beaked bird, but has a black beak".
Luckily for the world, I wasn't in charge of bird classification.. you don't wanna know what I call the yellow birds that eat 10 buck a bag thistle and then waste 5 seeds for every one they actually eat... but thats another subject entirely.
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Guest
Sturnus vulgaris
Emil is correct, these devils change colors during the year. Summer plumage is black with purple and green iridescence. The bill is yellow and the legs are reddish. The starling is the only black bird with a yellow bill in the United States. Winter plumage is black with light colored tips on the feathers giving the birds a distinctly speckled appearance and the bill is dark. European starlings have a straight, pointed bill which is not robust or conical, but long and flat. The tail is short and square, the body is stocky, and the wings are short, broad-based, and pointed. Immature starlings are gray-brown above, paler below with some white on the throat and belly, and a brown bill.
Males have elongated feathers over the breast, whereas females have short and petite plumes. Males sport a bluish spot at the base of their beaks, while the female displays a reddish pink speck.
Longest know lifespan in the wild is 15 years!!!
Hope this will help others dispose of as many of these as possible, I do.
Rahn
Emil is correct, these devils change colors during the year. Summer plumage is black with purple and green iridescence. The bill is yellow and the legs are reddish. The starling is the only black bird with a yellow bill in the United States. Winter plumage is black with light colored tips on the feathers giving the birds a distinctly speckled appearance and the bill is dark. European starlings have a straight, pointed bill which is not robust or conical, but long and flat. The tail is short and square, the body is stocky, and the wings are short, broad-based, and pointed. Immature starlings are gray-brown above, paler below with some white on the throat and belly, and a brown bill.
Males have elongated feathers over the breast, whereas females have short and petite plumes. Males sport a bluish spot at the base of their beaks, while the female displays a reddish pink speck.
Longest know lifespan in the wild is 15 years!!!
Hope this will help others dispose of as many of these as possible, I do.
Rahn
Get you a bird book and study up on north American Birds. Stokes Field Guide to Birds Eastern region is an excellent Bird freak book. On page XXii there is an excellent picture of a "Needle Beak" Commonly referred to as the European Starling. It shows a Summer and winter picture. Also so on page 349 gives you all the dirty details of the pig in question. This book is good also for identifing Different types of the good sparrows.