{"id":62875,"date":"2020-01-18T06:02:44","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T13:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62875"},"modified":"2024-12-13T04:51:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T10:51:11","slug":"winter-european-starling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/18\/winter-european-starling\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter European Starling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EuropeanEuropean Starling in winter next to a pond \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days ago when there was a break in the clouds so I went out in search of birds in the afternoon. Most of the ducks, coots, grebes and gulls were too far away to take high quality images of. I thought I was going to go home without any frame filling bird photos until this European Starling flew in and landed next to the water.<\/p>\n

\"PondPond side European Starling in the snow \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The behavior of the starling puzzled me a bit because it ate some snow even though it was just steps away from the pond where it could have had a drink of fresh water. This photo shows some of the snow on the starling’s bill.<\/p>\n

I know that it costs birds that eat snow energy to warm the snow up to body temperature so I thought watching and photographing this European Starling and a Ring-billed Gull eating snow<\/span><\/a> this week was interesting.<\/p>\n

\"WetWet and bedraggled European Starling in snow \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The starling disappeared for a few moments when it walked down to the edge of the pond and when it came back into view I could tell that it had taken a bath in the water because it was all wet, looked bedraggled and there were still water droplets clinging to its feathers.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t resist laughing when I saw this image on my monitor at home. It looked as if there should be a speech bubble in the frame with a caption that says “Do you mind? A little privacy please?” or something along those lines.<\/p>\n

\"EuropeanEuropean Starling after taking a bath in winter \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The wet European Starling quickly shook the water off of its feathers after this photo was taken and flew towards some trees across the water.<\/p>\n

I didn’t come home with the gull, duck, geese or grebe photos I thought that I might take but I am happy with these starling images.<\/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

I am aware there are a lot of people who don’t like starlings and consider them to be horrible pests that cause problems for our native birds but I can’t blame the starlings for being in this country because it was misguided humans who took them from their homeland and released them here about 130 years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n

When I am photographing European Starlings I don’t think about them being invasive pests, I think of them as wild, feathered, living subjects.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I thought I was going to go home without any frame filling bird photos until this European Starling flew in and landed next to the water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,249,709,26],"tags":[4004,5109,5578,251,4064,1984,4891,4050,4815,4739,4262,8018,3996,1824,373],"class_list":["post-62875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-european-starlings","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bath","tag-bedraggled","tag-european-starling","tag-ice","tag-pond","tag-shore","tag-snow","tag-starling","tag-starlings","tag-sturnus-vulgaris","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-wet","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/european-starling-pond-winter-mia-mcpherson-3572.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gm7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":77112,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/02\/european-starling-my-first-of-year-bird-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":62875,"position":0},"title":"European Starling – My First Of Year Bird 2021","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The first bird I saw in 2021 was a European Starling perched on a power line on the road to my local grocery store about 8:15 am yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"European Starling at a pond's edge, Salt Lake County, 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":62875,"position":1},"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":76010,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/12\/seeing-all-birds-european-starling-on-a-frosty-perch\/","url_meta":{"origin":62875,"position":2},"title":"Seeing All Birds – European Starling On A Frosty Perch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I have a backlog of raptor images I took earlier this week but I wanted to share one of a species that some people hate or many bird photographers prefer to ignore, the European Starling.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"European Starling perched on frosty barb wire, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-on-frosty-barb-wire-mia-mcpherson-9976.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-on-frosty-barb-wire-mia-mcpherson-9976.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-on-frosty-barb-wire-mia-mcpherson-9976.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-on-frosty-barb-wire-mia-mcpherson-9976.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":62875,"position":3},"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 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/european-starling-fragrant-sumac-mia-mcpherson-6795.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63755,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/06\/european-starling-on-a-snowy-winter-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":62875,"position":4},"title":"European Starling On A Snowy Winter Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"When this European Starling perched in a Crabapple tree close to me during the snowstorm I was able to get a few photos of it before my hands started to hurt from the cold.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"European Starling perched in a Crabapple tree, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-6792.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-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-6792.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-6792.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-snow-storm-mia-mcpherson-6792.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":62875,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}