{"id":34755,"date":"2016-01-09T05:39:36","date_gmt":"2016-01-09T12:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=34755"},"modified":"2026-02-13T17:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:40:07","slug":"a-constellation-of-european-starlings-and-a-bison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/09\/a-constellation-of-european-starlings-and-a-bison\/","title":{"rendered":"A Constellation of European Starlings and a Bison"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m quite used to seeings birds and bison in close proximity on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> not just during the warmer months but during the winter too. In December of 2014 I had an opportunity to photograph American Bison on a hill<\/span><\/a> on the southern part of the island with flocks of birds flying near them and landing on them.<\/p>\n

\"CloseClose up of a Bison and European Starlings – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The light was spectacular that day and the distant storm clouds made for interesting and dramatic backgrounds at times. Most of the images I took that day on Antelope Island State Park had flocks of European Starlings<\/span><\/a> and an American Bison<\/span><\/a> or two in them.<\/p>\n

A group of starlings can be called a “murmuration”, “filth”, “scourge”, “vulgarity” or a “constellation” of starlings, I prefer to use a “murmuration” or a “constellation”, thus I used the title “A Constellation of European Starlings and a Bison” for this post. I know a great many people despise starlings because they are non-native and compete aggressively with native species for nesting sites but I simply can’t bring myself to think of them as vulgar.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Bison photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my European Starling photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of the images I took that day on Antelope Island State Park had flocks of European Starlings and an American Bison or two in them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[443,511,27,1022,249,26],"tags":[4004,4463,970,745,4350,4142,14606,11978,251,4620,4052,4247,4122,1637,4046,4018,4815,4739,4262,373],"class_list":["post-34755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bison","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-european-starlings","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-bison","tag-autumn","tag-bison-bison","tag-buffalo","tag-close-up","tag-constellation","tag-desert-island","tag-european-starling","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-flock","tag-flying","tag-murmuration","tag-portrait","tag-sky","tag-starling","tag-starlings","tag-sturnus-vulgaris","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-2525.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-92z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17278,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/06\/bison-birds-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":34755,"position":0},"title":"Bison 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McPherson","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Certain species of birds ride on the backs of Bison and feed on the insects they find in the Bison's fur; European Starlings are among those birds.","rel":"","context":"In "American Bison"","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flock of European Starlings with a Bison, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-6688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-bison-starlings-mia-mcpherson-6688.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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