Recommended Products for Controlling Starling Infestation Problems.

European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

Another non-native species. Starlings were imported to the United States from Europe as cage birds because of their songs and imitation of the sounds of other birds. Approximately 60-100 starlings were released into Central Park, in New York City, in the late 19th century, by an acclimatization society headed by Eugene Schieffelin. The goal was to introduce all birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare.

Starlings build nests in abandoned tree cavities, nooks and crannies on buildings, and one of their favorites, exposed clothes dryer vents. Like the House Sparrow, Starlings will take over nesting boxes of other native song birds.

They tend to migrate in huge flocks sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Starlings will often come back to the same buildings and structures year after year and form immense roosting colonies. They feed on fruit and seeds leaving large amounts of bird guano in piles on ledges, parapets and other flat surfaces that provide adequate cover.