{"id":49128,"date":"2017-10-25T05:15:26","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T11:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=49128"},"modified":"2025-05-24T10:34:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T15:34:04","slug":"adult-and-juvenile-european-starlings-in-fall-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/10\/25\/adult-and-juvenile-european-starlings-in-fall-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult and Juvenile European Starlings in Fall Plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have an alternate title for this post which is “Invasive European Starlings perched on invasive Russian Olives<\/em>” because both the birds in this post and the trees are not native but introduced. The starlings are hated, the trees not so much. Maybe that is because the olive trees don’t take over the nests of native birds or kill native birds but they are a problem nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult European Starling in nonbreeding plumage – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Me, I don’t hate or blame the European Starlings for being here but I do think the humans that introduced them to North America could be considered foolish in hindsight. European Starlings are now among the most numerous songbirds in North America.<\/p>\n

Shoving all of that aside, they can be rather pretty birds to look at. The adult above is in nonbreeding plumage and it shows the intricate patterns of its plumage on its head, back and wings and just a hint of the pattern on its breast.<\/p>\n

\"MoltingMolting juvenile European Starling – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The photo above shows a molting juvenile European Starling in transition to adult plumage, many of its feathers have been replaced but it still has the head feathers of a juvenile. Kind of a punked out look.<\/p>\n

It might be hard to see at this resolution but these European Starlings have tiny little white heart shapes all over their breasts at this time of the year which are actually tips of feathers and by breeding season they will have worn away.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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":"

I have an alternate title for this post which is “Invasive European Starlings perched on invasive Russian Olives” because both the birds in this post and the trees are not native but introduced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146722,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1022,249,697,26],"tags":[4004,6189,251,686,4669,4071,2312,2313,4246,5577,4815,4739,4262],"class_list":["post-49128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-european-starlings","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-elaeagnus-angustifolia","tag-european-starling","tag-introduced","tag-invasive","tag-juvenile","tag-molt","tag-molting","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-russian-olive","tag-starling","tag-starlings","tag-sturnus-vulgaris"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/european-starling-juvenile-molting-mia-mcpherson-1638.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cMo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":109901,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/29\/european-starling-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":49128,"position":0},"title":"European Starling In Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning my subject is a European Starling in snow. I know some people hate these birds. I know some photographers won't raise their lens for them. I do.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Winter European Starling in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/european-starling-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-1256.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/european-starling-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-1256.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/european-starling-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-1256.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/european-starling-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-1256.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-pond-winter-mia-mcpherson-2670.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-pond-winter-mia-mcpherson-2670.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-pond-winter-mia-mcpherson-2670.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-pond-winter-mia-mcpherson-2670.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54718,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/10\/22\/european-starling-facts-and-information\/","url_meta":{"origin":49128,"position":2},"title":"European Starling Facts and Information","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Personally I am fascinated by European Starling murmurations, their interesting, beautiful plumage and how they can mimic the calls and songs of other birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"European Starling lifting off from rusty barbed wire fence, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-rusty-barbed-wire-mia-mcpherson-2184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-rusty-barbed-wire-mia-mcpherson-2184.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-rusty-barbed-wire-mia-mcpherson-2184.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-rusty-barbed-wire-mia-mcpherson-2184.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110148,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/10\/the-european-starling-a-tale-of-two-continents\/","url_meta":{"origin":49128,"position":3},"title":"The European Starling: A Tale of Two Continents","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago, I took this photo of a European Starling perched on top of a crabapple tree with a brilliant blue winter sky in the background at a city park.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched European Starling and blue sky, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/european-starling-perched-february-mia-mcpherson-2133.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/european-starling-perched-february-mia-mcpherson-2133.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/european-starling-perched-february-mia-mcpherson-2133.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/european-starling-perched-february-mia-mcpherson-2133.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":85174,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/20\/european-starling-on-three-perches\/","url_meta":{"origin":49128,"position":4},"title":"European Starling On Three Perches","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago I was able to take photos of a male European Starling on three different perches just a few seconds apart in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult European Starling in spring, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/european-starling-fragrant-sumac-mia-mcpherson-6795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/european-starling-fragrant-sumac-mia-mcpherson-6795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/european-starling-fragrant-sumac-mia-mcpherson-6795.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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