European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
The common starling or European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), also known simply as the starling in Great Britain and Ireland, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.
The Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758) is a passerine bird belonging to the Sturnidae family.
Systematics –
From the systematic point of view it belongs to the Eukaryota Domain, Animalia Kingdom, Subgenus Eumetazoa, Superphylum Deuterostomia, Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata, Infraphylum Gnathostomata, Superclass Tetrapoda, Class Aves, Subclass Neornithes, Superorder Neognathae, Order Passeriformes, Suborder Oscines, Superfamily Muscicapoidea, Family Sturnidae and therefore to the genus Sturnus and to the species S. vulgaris.
Geographical Distribution and Habitat –
The Common Starling is native to Eurasia but introduced in all continents except in South America and Antarctica.
Its habitat is that of the countryside but adapts to live even in urban areas; it is one of the most adaptable species to different environments. It prefers the plains, the hills, the cultivated countryside and, in general, the agricultural environments, but it also frequents woodlands and wetlands. If in the past he used to spend the night in the reeds and in the woods, for some years he has shown a marked preference for urban and suburban areas, where he takes refuge in the evening along with hundreds of congeners, in a sort of “collective dormitories”.
In Italy the Storno is a bird both sedentary and migratory. In fact some populations arrive to winter in the regions of southern Italy, thanks also to the presence of a great availability of olives and other types of fruit, to then migrate in the northern regions to the first warm, other populations are settled.
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