{"id":76010,"date":"2020-12-12T06:46:03","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T13:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=76010"},"modified":"2024-08-06T07:30:35","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T12:30:35","slug":"seeing-all-birds-european-starling-on-a-frosty-perch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/12\/seeing-all-birds-european-starling-on-a-frosty-perch\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing All Birds – European Starling On A Frosty Perch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EuropeanEuropean Starling perched on frosty barb wire \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

European Starlings are an introduced species and they have spread across North America since their introduction and now exist here in extremely large numbers. These starlings are considered a pest by many and they can and do out compete native species for food and nesting areas.<\/p>\n

They actually sound like the European settlers that came to this country many moons ago.<\/p>\n

I don’t drive past starlings when I am out in the field. I do stop and attempt to take photos of them because despite their bad reputation in my opinion they are lovely birds. They are also wonderful songsters that can mimic the songs and calls of many of our native birds. They have fooled my ears on more than a few occasions.<\/p>\n

European Starlings also remind me of a terrific woman each and every time I see and photograph them. A woman with a big heart, a warm smile, and love for European Starlings that she calls the “Emperors Nightingale” because of their wonderful songs. This photo is for you Barbara.<\/p>\n

I took this photo four days ago at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a> which is where I met Barbara and I thought of her as I took images of this European Starling and smiled. I do that when I take photos of bluebirds and hummingbirds too because my mom loves them as much as Barbara loves her “nightingales”.<\/p>\n

Seeing and paying attention to all birds is an important part of my skill set as well as my nature and as a bird photographer it has led me to some exciting finds in the field. Just recently seeing all the birds gave me a lifer Rusty Blackbird<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Weather

Weather Map Salt Lake City, Utah for December 12, 2020<\/p><\/div>\n

On to this mornings weather… It is snowing! The road and the grass out front have turned white since I got up this morning and I can see that the roof tops across the street have turned white too even though it is still dark outside. I am excited because we need the snow and because I love it even if I grumble about having to clear it off of my Jeep.<\/p>\n

Perhaps later today I will make a trip to my local pond and photograph birds with big, fat, fluffy flakes falling in some of the images. That always gets me excited.<\/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

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131942,"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":[27,1022,249,697,26],"tags":[4004,1894,4430,251,3830,368,686,4094,4104,4815,4739,4262,4095,373],"class_list":["post-76010","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-barb-wire","tag-barbed-wire","tag-european-starling","tag-fence","tag-frosty","tag-introduced","tag-marsh","tag-perched","tag-starling","tag-starlings","tag-sturnus-vulgaris","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/european-starling-on-frosty-barb-wire-mia-mcpherson-9976.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jLY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17205,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/24\/birds-on-wires-european-starling\/","url_meta":{"origin":76010,"position":0},"title":"Birds on Wires – European Starling","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I know a lot of people don't like European Starlings because they are in introduced species that cause lots of problems for native birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"European Starling on rusty barbed wire, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/european-starling-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-4326.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-nonbreeding-mia-mcpherson-4326.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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":85174,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/20\/european-starling-on-three-perches\/","url_meta":{"origin":76010,"position":2},"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, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Molting juvenile European Starling, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/european-starling-juvenile-molting-mia-mcpherson-1638.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/european-starling-juvenile-molting-mia-mcpherson-1638.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/european-starling-juvenile-molting-mia-mcpherson-1638.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/european-starling-juvenile-molting-mia-mcpherson-1638.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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