The beak seems long and narrow for a starling. I just googled some pics, and some had different colored, shorter, thicker beaks . There are similarities though.

That's an Ohno bird, Les. Listen for the distinctive call when they come in for a landing.

Les, your chicken coop freeloader is absolutely a Starling. A nastier, filthier bird doesn't exist.....oh wait.....yes they do....CHICKENS!!! But at least they (chickens) pop out eggs, as well as taste good, sorta like, well......CHICKEN!! I had a pet Red fox as a kid. It ate about anything I could catch/shoot for it, except it would not eat a Starling.

So....my chicken coop is a starling trap. I had about 2 dozen of them in there with the chickens one day when it was real cold. The key would be to shut up the holes after they are in there, and somehow go in there with a tennis racket. Pretty tight quarters with 10 chickens in there and an 8x8 fish house chicken coop with a 7' ceiling. Probably need to lock a cat in there with them .

It's funny, but here at my place I don't see Starlings at all during the winter, yet 2 miles away in town, they are all over the place. I usually start seeing them in late March when the darn things start house hunting and tend to spend a lot of time paying attention to my various birdhouses. I generally blast them. I think if I went off to the west 3-4 miles I'd see them at all the farms too, especially any with stock. Around these parts, Starlings are "people birds" that you don't see off in the wilder sections of woods.

I never saw them until I was leaving beaver fleshing tailings from frost scraping in the snow around the boards. Every once in a while you'll find one dead, and I'm not sure why. They love coon fat.

I need a decent air rifle for in town here.

Sharon and J.Morse know what critters are attracted to chicken coops, and Starlings are big time visitors.

There is never a shortage seeing numbers of them once they find a steady food source, if you live in town or the country. I live in a rural area with large dairy farms nearby. I stopped at one yesterday and saw a few zipping around the barn yard where they were hauling silage.

Jonathan

Jonathan, yes I too have seen them most around grain areas.

Years and years ago , I had one wandering through that stayed a couple weeks at my feeders. Just one. It mimicked to perfection the beautiful song of a Western Meadowlark.

When I first heard the song, I was greatly surprised, as Meadowlarks were nowhere near my deep woods habitat-they are in the open pastures and fields miles away. I then saw the starling ,and mused over something I learned that day.

I admit I enjoyed the starling's perfect mimic of that beautiful Meadowlark song, amidst its own whistles and creaks.

I sure wouldn't want them in the huge flocks at the granaries , though.

Sharon, they can be photogenic when in adult plumage colors.

Jonathan

Les, as kids we would crawl up into the haymow at night and shine a strong flashlight at the pigeons. This would blind them causing them to fall where we would catch them. Things would go smoothly until the starlings started to bombard us! The lights would blind them too and it was like getting hit by a kamikaze! Maybe you could try this in your coop, I would think it would be alot easier than a tennis racket.

I used to deer hunt in a woods that was frequented nearly every afternoon by a few owls. A tree near my elevated box stand was a favorite of theirs. I eventually learned it was easier just to watch the owl than to scan the woods all around for deer. The owl would always see their movement first and I could determine in which direction it was looking.

Jonathan, oh yes, starlings as a species are among the most colourful birds around.

Too bad they're such invasive pests.

Charles, you have it spot on. To those who notice and take time to listen to the birds , they can know many important things happening around them. Including any big nasties hiding in the bush out of sight watching us in turn !

I imagine a fella could trap the starlings similar to how pigeons are trapped .

Johnathon, awesome thing to witness, to bad they are disease carriers

Built a repeating sparrow, starling trap. The kind with the counterweight that lowers the bird to a hole into holding cage.
Works great.

Don't like how they get into the crevices and fill them with garbage to build nests. No closed season on them here.

Starlings are unprotected here, I believe.

So that Horned Lark, I wonder what sub-species it is, since some of them are really high Artic breeders.

One of my old Breeding Bird Surveys I had for 15 years; 49 of 50 stops with them on it. The survey now only has 15-20 stops with them on it. Now AGRICULTURE has changed our landscape.

Starlings are vermin..nothing but flying rats.

Shoot on site here, invasive species. Starlings & English sparrows.