European Starling (CA) LIVE

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This box came online February 1st and is intended to attract American Kestrels.

Species: European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Location: Santa Clarita, California
Status: Four young fledged on June 4th.

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Daily Highlights:

	------------------------------------- June 3 - FLEDGING! The four starling chicks left the nest today. The entire process took over 1 1/2 hours, starting at around 8:30 in the morning.
	3 chicks left.
	The chicks watched as one by one their siblings left the box.
	One left...
	The fledglings actually returned to the nest box several times before leaving for good.

	Finally the box is empty! Bye starlings! -------------------------------------
	June 2 - All four starlings seem eager to get out of the nest box and explore!
	June 1 - A starling chick stretches its wings. The nestlings are all fully feathered now and ready to go.
	May 31 - One chick spent most of the day perched in the entrance. Starlings usually fledge at around 21 days of age, so these ones should start around the 2nd of June.
	May 30 - As the chicks get older, their fecal sacs become more difficult to remove from the nest. They try to defecate outside the nest cup at least, and outside the nest cavity if they can.
	May 25 - The female spends all night in the box with the chicks, though not incubating them at this point.
	May 24 - The new flight feathers are clearly visible on this chick's wing. The nestlings should be fully feathered between 15 and 21 days of age, and will be able to fly by day 19.
	May 23 - Starling bills are yellow only in the breeding season, and they turn black again during the late fall and winter months.
	May 20 - Although five eggs were laid and hatched, our cameras account for only four young in the nest, now just over one week old.
	May 19 - Close observation of this shot will reveal the hatchlings' eyes starting to "bulge" above their bills.
	May 18 - The European Starling chicks develop rapidly; already the patches of feathers are darker and denser. By day twelve of development, the chicks should weigh 71 grams each!
	May 17 - Although both male and female European Starlings develop brood patches, usually only the female broods the hatchlings at night.
	May 16 - Male and female starlings share equal duties in nourishing the chicks. Should the female die, the male would most likely compensate for the loss and not forsake the nest.
	May 15 - An adult starling feeds the young. Food items usually fed to young starlings include cranefly larvae and other small invertebrates.
	May 14 - The eldest starling chick opens its bright orange mouth for the first time. The chicks will instinctively open their mouths in response to any vibration of the nest box.
	May 13 - Already, all but two of the eggs have hatched. The chicks' eyes will remain shut until day six or seven.
	May 12 - At about six o'clock this evening, the first starling chick hatched. Despite looking entirely naked, starling chicks atcually have more natal down than most other passerines (perching birds).
	May 11 - People often confuse starlings with native grackles and red-winged blackbirds. The latter belong to the Icteridae, a family confined to the New World, whereas the former belongs to the quite unrelated Sturnidae, an Old World group that also contains the mynas.
	May 10 - Here's an interesting fact to enliven this rather uneventful day in the Kestrel/Starling box - European Starlings were introduced into North America by a wealthy businessman seeking to acquaint America's youth with every Old World bird mentioned in Shakespearean literature.
	May 9 - While this pair of starlings is in the process of raising its own brood, parasitism is rampant amongst some starling populations, with the females dumping their clutches into the nests of other birds.
	May 8 - When an adult starling prepares to leave the nest, it often covers the eggs loosely with plant fibers.
	May 7 - Another preening episode. What looks like grease on the starling's feathers is actually just glossiness.
	May 6 - Despite their scientific name, Sturnus vulgaris, European Starlings are actually clean birds that preen frequently. They often roost by water in order to bathe.
	May 5 - In the upper right of this shot you can see that more fresh grass has been added by the male starling. It is thought that the grass may act as a repellent to certain bugs.
	May 4 - No egg has been laid within the last two days, so we can assume that the clutch is complete at five.
	May 2 - Unlike all the other eggs, which were laid in the early morning, the fifth egg was laid in the afternoon.
	May 1 - European Starlings show no sexual dimorphism, meaning that male and female look exactly alike, making it impossible to tell them apart in the nest. (NOTE: A British viewer has pointed out that male and female starlings show slight differences in lore color and breast feather shagginess. These differences are so slight, however, that they cannot be readily discerned through the camera.)
	April 30 - During incubation, female and male European Starlings develop incubation patches on their undersides. Therefore, both sexes take turns sitting on the eggs.
	April 29 - The female starling will lay an egg a day until her clutch is complete.
	April 28 - As anticipated, another sky-blue egg already peers out of the nest. The host of this nest box says he will probably let the starlings carry out this breeding attempt. We will use this educational opportunity to study the breeding behaviors of an invasive species.
	April 27 - The female hunkers down in her new nest. An egg to replace the one she lost is on the way.
	April 26 - The starling rounds off nest building by adding some fresh Timothy Grass. Research has shown that the addition of "green matter" by starlings is usually carried out by the male.
	April 25 - Ever ingenuitive, a starling can line its nest with all sorts of odds and ends, including some of this cotton-like material.
	April 24 - Here a starling pushes back its wings and protrudes its breast to deepen the center of the nest.
	April 23 - Despite the attempt to thwart their nesting progress, the resilient starlings are back at it.
	April 22 - The arrival of the first egg signals to the keepers of this nest box that it's time to do some "cleaning out;" the destruction of starling nests is perfectly legal in this country because the Starling, an introduced species, has wreaked untold havoc on native cavity nesters.
	April 21 - Soon the nest hole will display a clutch of unmistakably blue starling eggs.
	April 20 - The female starling vocalizes to her mate while situated in their coarsely built nest.
	April 19 - Here, the male starling brings nesting material into the box. This isn't as easy as it sounds, for the kestrel nest box sits atop a thirty foot pole!
	April 18 - For a moment, male and female European Starlings share the nest box. Introduced into New York City's Central Park in 1890, the European Starling has since spread continent-wide and become a severe threat to native cavity nesting birds.
	April 17 - The European Starlings have been making frequent use of the kestrel nest box lately. Since these birds are very opportunistic in nest selection, there may very well be a starling egg in the box within the next few days.
	March 20 - Unfortunately, the first image we have of a bird in the box is that of a European Starling!

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