Bird watching: starling

Self-tutoring about neighborhood birds: the tutor mentions a starling.

Bird watchers tend to focus on rare birds they catch sight of. Starlings are so common – why even mention one?

Yesterday a bird perched high in a tree in the front yard. It sang energetically, not permitting me to ignore it.

I thought it was a starling but the sun was so bright I couldn’t get a good look. Its song was squeaky, then a gurgle, next a cackle – most of the time. Once in a while, however, it interjected a few sweet, liquid notes so melodious I wondered if they came from another bird. No, it seemed not: the same bird simply switched back and forth between muttering and singing.

As far as I could tell, it was a starling, and the song at the link confirms it. Moreover, the source confirms that starlings will imitate other birds’ songs.

Another observation: the starling was a performer who didn’t like attention. After a minute of my gaze, he flew away. As soon as I was busy doing something else, though, he returned. Interesting, eh?

Source:

allaboutbirds.org