Starling Free Locations…Environment Could Be The Reason

[Steve Kroenke]

Starling Free Locations…Environment Could Be The Reason

Many purple martin landlords have problems with starlings and other folks have few or none. All these landlords may use large gourds and house compartments which are attractive to starlings. However, there is something else that may be even more relevant in determining whether a colony site will have starling problems or not. And that something else may have nothing to do with the martin housing.

Here are some of my thoughts and observations on this interesting subject and other folks may have similar or different ones …

Starlings are “grazers” and forage on the ground for small invertebrates to feed their young during the active starling breeding season; during the non-breeding season starlings form flocks and may have a more vegetarian diet. Starlings have long legs which allow them to walk through short grass or vegetation as the starlings look for prey. The starling’s long beak allows him/her to probe for insects. The starling’s beak is also uniquely designed for opening strongly to lift up and push small objects to the side.

So there is a type of physical environment that may be attractive to starlings and this environment must not only provide nest sites but just as important must provide suitable food for themselves and their young. Starlings seem to need areas that are composed of short or limited grasses/vegetation where starlings can easily walk through to find small invertebrates. Such environments would include golf courses, city parks, lawns around businesses and yards, closely mowed highway shoulders/medians, short grass pastures, recently plowed/well kept gardens and similar locations. In other words, starlings seem to be attracted to “improved” grassy/semi-grassy areas and may avoid “unimproved” environments.

Starlings usually do not hunt for insects for their young in thick or tall grass, in dense vegetation, in forests or woodlots, in the sky, over bodies of water, on concrete/asphalt surfaces and similar locations. In all these locations, starlings either could not easily walk on the surface or some of the areas would not provide cover for terrestrial invertebrates.

Starlings tend to hunt for food near their nesting sites like most birds. Starlings are not going to fly several miles to reach a suitable foraging area and then fly back and forth to feed their young. This would require too much time to be able to raise a family.

Therefore starlings may require environments with short grasses/vegetation where they can forage for food on the ground and such locations must be close enough to any nest site so starlings can fly quickly back and forth to feed their babies. In downtown Shreveport, Louisiana, I have watched starlings foraging for insects on business lawns and then fly maybe 50 to 100 yards to a nest site to feed their young.

I have studied the environments of all my previous martin colonies in Florida and my current one in Louisiana and a pattern emerges relative to starling activity. All my Florida colonies that had NO starling issues were located in open pockets that were surrounded by forests and/or had low human activity which usually means fewer short grass areas. While martins readily nested in my colonies, starlings (and also house sparrows) were absent as the location may have been unattractive to them relative to feeding opportunities. The only place the starlings could possibly forage in was a small area around my martin housing or much farther away and that may have been inadequate to provide sufficient food for multiple starlings. I only mowed the area around my martin housing.

For example, my Florida super martin colony with 150+ pairs was located about 16 miles southeast of Tallahassee in a forested area with open pockets and little human activity. This was “wild country” with many forests and few short grass locations and therefore was probably unattractive to starlings. Not a single starling (or house sparrow) ever showed up around this martin colony for as long as I lived there. That martin colony existed for eight years.

My last Florida colony was established about 16 miles east of Tallahassee. I lived in a relatively open pocket but was surrounded by heavy woods. Not many people lived out there and those that did tended to have tree canopied yards. I managed that martin colony for 20 years and NO starlings ever bothered the housing. However, starlings did nest at a truck stop off I-10 that was located about four miles east of my colony. Why? This location had open grassy lawns/areas and starlings could easily forage there. My colony site and surrounding area perhaps did not provide a sufficient short grassy environment for starlings to find enough food to raise their young and therefore was unattractive.

At my current Louisiana colony, we are surrounded by hayfields and cow pastures with tall or thick grassy characteristics and woods. The main open short grassy locations are in our yards, which we keep mowed, though some similar areas exist within a mile of my colony. This Louisiana site provides more short grass environments than my last two Florida colonies. If starlings were allowed to nest, probably only a few pairs at the most could find enough food locally to raise a brood. So we have some starlings visit and these are easily eliminated by shooting/trapping. Like my Florida colonies, my present Louisiana site is rural with low human activity and is not that “starling friendly” relative to short grass feeding areas. Perhaps that is the reason we don’t see large numbers of starlings trying to move in our martin housing. I usually shoot/trap a few starlings each season and none cause any problems for our martins.

In Europe starlings are now declining in large numbers and one of the reasons may relate to a change in agricultural practices which has resulted in a loss of pastures and appropriate grasslands. Starlings, particularly juveniles, appear to be having a harder time finding sufficient food and are not surviving.

While many suburban areas in North America would contain plenty of short grass environments that are attractive to starlings, there are still a good number of more isolated areas that would not. Martin colonies established in or near short grass improved environments are probably most negatively impacted by starling competition since these areas would provide suitable feeding locations. Colonies located in isolated regions with few short grass open areas may have fewer starling problems as starlings may not be attracted to an environment where they have limited foraging opportunities during the breeding season. Therefore, the physical environment where a martin colony is located may be the key determinant for starling competition problems in some situations and I believe it was for my starling free Florida colonies.

So if we want to reduce starling numbers or keep them away from our martin colonies, then perhaps everyone needs to quit mowing their lawns! It might work!

Steve

[Guest]

Steve, great observation.
The constant starling visits I had this year were always on a sections of "lawn" that were very short with small patches of bare earth. Now that you mention this I realize that they stayed away from the thick areas of dense tall grass.

[Gary W]

Hi Steve,

I believe you are correct in your analysis. I have always noticed that the the rural areas appear to contain a much smaller starling population. There also seems to be a much greater representation of our native cavity nesters out in the country. That being said, I believe the invention of the SREH is a huge benefit for the purple martin species! Most potential landlords live in urban areas, like myself. I have plenty of forage for the birds in my area, but to sustain a colony here without the use of the SREH, would be tenuous at best! Starlings are very numerous and aggressive where I live. As the use of the SREH becomes more of the norm than the exception, it can only mean an overall increase in the continent's martin population! May God bless Charles Mcewen!

Gary

[Daniel Airola]

Although my observations come from a very different environment in urban Sacramento, they support yours, Steve. Here, after Starlings entered the state in the 1960s and eliminated martin nesting in trees and buildings, the martins persisted only in bridges. Since martins disappeared from buildings near bridge sites where they persist now, presumably therewere enough starlings in these urban areas to disrupt nesting. The supply of 1000s of nest sites in bridge "weep holes" may have allowed both starlings and martins to persist. I see substantial numbers of starlings only at a few colonies that are adjacent to a large high school field and a golf course.

Martins have spread only to a limited degree from urban bridges to abundant new overpasses and elevated freeways in more suburban and rural areas. Unlike yours, our rural areas are often agricultural where starlings find abundant foods in irrigated pastures and other field types. This lack of spread of martins into new nesting habitat has always been perplexing. Is it because the higher starling populations in less urban areas are discouraging colonization of outlying areas? The recent cause for our substantial population decline (60% over the last 5 years) appears to be high adult mortality (presumably due to vehicle collisions in these high traffic areas) and somewhat low reproduction (average of only 2.3-3.2 young per nest over the last 3 years). Neither our mapping of nest site use in bridges and video monitoring of bridge nest sites have demonstrated that starlings are killing martins or disrupting nesting in bridge areas.

Unless this decline reverses, we may never know the answer to whether bridge sites can allow martins to increase in areas with relatively high starling populations, or whether they are fated to be restricted to apparently suboptimal urban areas.

[bird fan]

Hi Steve: My feelings are different than yours, I live a 1/4 mile from a large dairy farm, there are Starlings everywhere, easy pickings for food, grains, corn and so on, My houses are on 15 acres of mostly agriculture field, this year its all corn, lat year it was all alfalfa or hay, I have Starlings on power lines, trees, and yes in the tall hay that at times is 30 inches tall, then in our nearest big city (sheboygan) there is a large mink ranch on the outskirts of town, all concrete and trees, there full of Starlings because once again there is food everywhere, there even in the Home depot sometimes, My feeling is if theres food near by, they will be there. Greg Z.

[Steve Kroenke]

Thanks for sharing your observations/insights regarding the subject of starlings and the environment. It appears that starlings may have varied preferences for foraging environments though areas with short grasses/vegetation are probably more attractive. This type of environment allows starlings to “graze” like “feathered cows” as they probe the ground for small invertebrates.

So far, I have seen starlings feeding in short grass locations and have never seen starlings walking through tall thick grasses like that in a hayfield during the nesting season. Hopefully they will continue this feeding behavior in our area! I know starlings will feed on berries, grains and other vegetable matter, particularly during the non-breeding season. However, starlings feed their young primarily small invertebrates which have high protein content. This protein diet is apparently necessary for successful breeding.

Starlings are incredibly adaptable birds and have been able to survive in many locations throughout the world. It is interesting to see them declining in population in parts of Europe much to the dismay of European bird watchers! Various reasons have been offered for this decline: changes in agricultural practices which has reduced the number of pastures/grasslands; changes in roofing designs of building which has eliminated possible nest sites; increased usage of farming pesticides that has reduced insect numbers; increases in feral cat numbers; and increases in sparrow hawk (similar to our Accipiter hawks and a major predator of starlings) population.

There has been a possible positive consequence from this starling decline in Europe depending on your viewpoint. The great spotted woodpecker, which is similar in size to our red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers, has been increasing in numbers and some ornithologists have wondered if this is a result of decreased competition pressures from starlings. Starlings frequently evict spotted woodpeckers from their cavities just like starlings do with North American woodpeckers.

Thanks again for sharing your observations/insights.

Steve

[John Miller]

There are thousands of starlings around St. Louis, Mo., and most cities. I see them grazing in lawns, flocking to animal feed stations in the Zoo, and scavenging from any scraps in parking lots near food services. In winter, I see them flocking into open trash bins behind restaurants.

Here they nest in tree holes, any hole in the house, and in holes in Interstate road signs and in the ends of poles that hang out over the streets and hold the street lights.

My rambly point is I don't think we understand them fully. Maybe American starlings fledge starlings that are more adaptable than the starlings in Europe?

Maybe it is the lawn thing. We love lawns here. Are starlings declining in drought stricken Texas where the grass must be brown?

John M

[Keith]

Hello Steve,
I do think you make a good point about Starlings liking the areas with shorter grasses. We have almost a 3-acre lawn that they use a lot in the breeding season but hardly ever see one here this time of year. I don't think my lovely wife would be happy if I stopped the mowing, as she usually reminds me two or three days ahead of the lawn actually needing mowed anyway, Ha!
Neighbors close to me are farmers and some raise dogs and it seems that Starlings are extremely adaptably and will eat such a great variety of foods; dog food, waste around the cattle feed lots Etc. Starling seem to be around restaurants ( I notice fast food places in particular ) looking for crumbs of any type. I certainly don't think we have to worry about them going extinct.

Keith Pellham

[John Miller]

Ahem

One other thought. Steve, if we all quit mowing, the robins won't be too happy. I like robins (grin).

Nothing's easy.

John M

[Steve Kroenke]

Hey Keith/John,

I was joking some about "quit mowing our lawns"! I realize that it is not practical. But all kidding aside, starlings seem to forage in short grass environments primarily when they are hunting small invertebrates for their young.

Like you say John, robins as well as other native song birds need short grass environments to successfully raise young.

I have not seen any starlings now around our immediate area in months; in fact, I haven't seen any in several of the surrounding small cities/town either. Our friend, Ursula who has a 200+ pair martin colony located about 6 miles northwest of us has not seen any either. She told me they only saw several starlings this season at their colony and shot I believe 2 or 3. Our rural environment with perhaps limited short grass foraging areas may not be that attractive to starlings and so we don't have large numbers of them bothering our personal martin colonies.

Steve

[teridickinson]

Starlings are incredibly adaptable birds and have been able to survive in many locations throughout the world. It is interesting to see them declining in population in parts of Europe much to the dismay of European bird watchers! Various reasons have been offered for this decline: changes in agricultural practices which has reduced the number of pastures/grasslands; changes in roofing designs of building which has eliminated possible nest sites; increased usage of farming pesticides that has reduced insect numbers; increases in feral cat numbers; and increases in sparrow hawk (similar to our Accipiter hawks and a major predator of starlings) population.


Steve

I keep hearing that both EUST and HOSP are on the decline in Europe. I think I'll offer to go to Home Depot or MacDonalds and grab about 200 or so and FedEx them over there. Ought to be able to catch that many in about 5 minutes. Only problem is, they would probably be back within 3 or 4 hrs of being released!

Actually, I was in Heathrow airport not too long ago and had to wait for a bus in an open but covered area and the first thing I heard when I went out the door was the incessant mono-cheep of the HOSP. I think I would dislike them less if they at least put a little variety in their cheeping!

Teri