In recent weeks some local bird watchers have noticed large black flocks that seemed to arc across Pittsburgh skies as a single, dark entity. And they weren’t happy about it.
Backyard birders had something to crow about in recent years when the number of European starlings began to decline. Ornithologists continued to grouse about the theatrical way the bird arrived in North America in the first place.
Sympathy for the starling is hard to find. It out-competes native birds for nesting sites, monopolizes feeders with its large, noisy flocks, spreads avian diseases and is responsible some of the history’s worst airline disasters.
Bird studies confirm that the regional starling population is significantly down in recent years, but that hasn’t improved its reputation as the bad bird of the backyard.
“European starlings are an invasive species, but they’ve been around so long people don’t know they don’t belong here,” said Bob Mulvihill, an ornithologist at the National Aviary.
“Probably, starlings get grouped into a category of birds that people would rather not have around, with grackles and blue jays. The difference is, starlings are not native and have caused problems.”
Stocky, glossy black and flecked, and at 8 inches about the size of a blackbird, Sturnus vulgaris has a short tail, long, slim beak and pointed wings. In flight it’s shaped sort of like a star, hence its name.
Closely related to the familiar pet store myna, the starling can vocalize nonnatural sounds such as a doorbell, car horn and back-up beeper, and can even mimic the human voice.
Flocks of starlings, called murmurations, wheel and circle in tight, undulating formations.
After the crow, the starling is the second most common bird in Pittsburgh. Outside the city, particularly near Pittsburgh International Airport, starlings dominate.
Native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, the starling was first mentioned in Roman literature in the first century and later by medieval Welsh authors in the 12th century.
But in the 1890s, a naturalist group, the American Acclimatization Society, led by New York pharmacist Eugene Schieffelin, embarked on a culturally enlightened but environmentally devastating program to bring to the New World all of the European flora and fauna mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.
“I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but ‘Mortimer’ and give it him, to keep his anger still in motion,” says Hotspur in “Henry IV: Part 1,” when the king refuses to pay a ransom for his disloyal brother-in-law, Edmund Mortimer.
Historians note that Mr. Schieffelin’s group released 100 European starlings in New York City’s Central Park. It’s likely that some starlings were introduced to America before Mr. Schieffelin, and birds from a later stocking in the Pacific West are believed to have disappeared.
But the Shakespeare release is widely credited — or blamed — for a current population estimated at 150 million to 200 million birds covering North America as far north as the Arctic Circle, displacing native species wherever it goes.
“It’s one of those sad stories,” said Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. “Someone who had a noble or grand idea doing something out of ignorance that becomes problematic years later.”
Mr. Mulvihill, however, is more forgiving about Mr. Schieffelin’s great conservation blunder. “There was just no reason at that time not to bring in the starlings,” he said. “Wildlife management wasn’t a science yet. There was no real understanding of all the harm that could be done.”
In most of the United States, invasive starlings have displaced the native bluebird by taking its cavity nesting spaces, including holes in trees and covered industrial nooks. Starlings can monopolize feeders, and droppings from huge flocks can spread avian disease.
They impact milk production by picking out the best protein from cow feed and leaving polluting droppings.
Starlings are among only a few species with no legal protection in Pennsylvania — the state Game Commission permits an open season and no limit on starlings, except during deer seasons.
Starlings’ dense bodies and tightly packed flocks have disrupted airplane engines, causing the world’s worst civilian and military bird-related crashes.
“Starlings are a real significant hazard to aviation,” said Bobby Hromack, a wildlife service biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture who keeps animals off runways at Pittsburgh International Airport.
“I would say we spend a solid four months of the year — June through September — when we have a high amount of starlings.”
Most are chased away with pyrotechnics and other dispersal technology, he said. Grasses, fruit-bearing bushes and other habitat near the runways are groomed specifically to disinterest starlings.
“We haven’t had any strike damage related to starlings in more than two years,” said Mr. Hromack. “We’ve seen a 54 percent reduction in strikes from starlings from previous years.”
That’s consistent with results from the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count. Three weeks ago, during the Pittsburgh count, an average of 3,386 starlings were documented in counting circles. The highest number recorded was 8,371 in 2010.
Mr. Mulvihill and Mr. Bonner agreed that habitat loss is probably responsible for partially ridding the region of starlings.
First Published: January 18, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
