Sturnidae – Starlings, Mynas & Rhabdornis

The Sturnidae (Starlings, Mynas, Rhabdornis & allies) are small to medium-sized family of passerines. The name comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Their complex vocalizations include mimicking and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behaviour is known as murmuration. This is one of the most spectacular sights in the avian world whereby a few thousand, to over a million starlings, mass before entering a night roost during winter. They can be seen swirling in amazing patterns in the sky above a reedbed, copse of trees or even a manmade structure.

Starlings are native to Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas as well as North America, Hawaii and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habitats with native birds and are considered to be invasive species. The starling species familiar to most people in Europe and North America is the common starling, and throughout much of Asia and the Pacific, the Common Myna is indeed common.

Starlings have strong feet, their flight is strong and direct, and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country, and they eat insects and fruit. Several species live around human habitation and are effectively omnivores. Many species search for prey such as grubs by open-bill probing, that is, forcefully opening the bill after inserting it into a crevice, thus expanding the hole and exposing the prey; this behaviour is referred to by the German verb ‘zirkeln’.

Juvenile and adult Asian Glossy Starling Aplonis panayensis – ©Dubi Shapiro

Starlings have diverse and complex vocalisations and have been known to embed sounds from their surroundings into their own calls, including car alarms and human speech patterns. The birds can recognise particular individuals by their calls.

Superb Starling Lamprotornis superbus	Yellow-faced Myna Mino dumontii
Bali Myna Leucopsar rothschildi	Apo Myna Goopdfellowia miranda
The four photos above courtesy of ©Dubi Shapiro

Starlings are medium-sized passerines. The shortest-bodied species is Kenrick’s Starling Poeoptera kenricki, at 15 centimetres, but the lightest-weight species is Abbott’s Starling Poeoptera femoralis, which is 34 grams. The largest starling, going on standard measurements and perhaps weight, is the Nias Hill Myna Gracula robusta. This species can measure up to 36cm and, in domestication they can weigh up to 400 grams. Rivalling the prior species in bulk if not dimensions, the mynas of the genus Mino are also large, especially the Yellow-faced Myna Mino dumontii and Long-tailed Myna Mino kreffti. The longest species in the family is the White-necked Myna Streptocitta albicollis, which can measure up to 50 cm, although around 60% in this magpie-like species is comprised by its very long tail.

There is less sexual dimorphism in plumage however, with only 25 species showing such differences between the two sexes. The plumage of the starling is often brightly coloured due to iridescence; this colour is derived from the structure of the feathers, not from any pigment. Some species of Asian starling have crests or erectile feathers on the crest. Other ornamentation includes elongated tail feathers and brightly coloured bare areas on the face. These colours can be derived from pigments, or, as in the Bali Starling, structural colour, caused by light scattering off parallel collagen fibres. The irises of many species are red and yellow, although those of younger birds are much darker.

The starlings are generally a highly social family. Most species associate in flocks of varying sizes throughout the year. These flocks may include other species of starlings and sometimes species from other families. This sociality is particularly evident in their roosting behaviour; in the non-breeding season some roosts can number in the hundreds of thousands of birds.

Starlings imitate a variety of avian species and have a repertoire of about 15–20 distinct imitations. They also imitate a few sounds other than those of wild birds. The calls of abundant species, calls that are simple in frequency structure and show little amplitude modulation, are preferentially imitated. There are local dialects of mimicked sounds. Starlings have also been known to imitate other man-made environmental sounds, such as phone tones and cars.

Stripe-breasted Rhabdornis Rhabdornis inornatus – ©Dubi Shapiro

Their diets are usually dominated by fruit and insects. Many species are important dispersers of seeds in continents Asia and Africa, for example white sandalwood, Indian Banyan. In addition to trees, they are also important dispersers of parasitic mistletoes. In South Africa, the Red-winged Starling is an important disperser of the introduced Acacia cyclops. Starlings have been observed feeding on fermenting over-ripe fruit, which led to the speculation that they might become intoxicated by the alcohol. Laboratory experiments on European starlings have found that they have disposal enzymes that allow them to break down alcohol very quickly. In addition to consuming fruits, many starlings will also consume nectar. The extent to which starlings are important pollinators is unknown, Starling of alpine East Africa, which pollinates giant lobelias.

Golden-breasted Starling Lamprotornis regius – ©Dubi Shapiro

Plumage of many species is typically dark with a metallic sheen. Most species nest in holes and lay blue or white eggs. In the Common Starling, A suitable cavity is lined with twigs by the male and then with soft material by the female and is often decorated with petals or leaves. Four to six eggs are laid and both parents feed the young, with the males sometimes finding a second mate for another brood. Breeding behaviour emphasises securing a nest hole, attracting a mate with song, communal nesting and resourceful feeding on insects in open ground.

Golden Myna Mino anais – ©Dubi Shapiro

Starlings inhabit a wide range of habitats from the Arctic Circle to the Equator. In fact, the only habitat they do not typically occupy is the driest sandy deserts. The family is naturally absent from the Americas and from large parts of Australia, but is present over the majority of Europe, Africa and Asia (except for invasive Common Starlings in America and Common Myna in Australia and New Zealand). The genus Aplonis has also spread widely across the islands of the Pacific reaching Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia (in addition one species in the genus Mino has reached the Solomon Islands). It is also a species of this genus that is the only starling found in northern Australia.

Some species of starlings are migratory, either entirely, like Shelley’s Starling, which breeds in Ethiopia and Somaliland and migrates to Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia, or like the White-shouldered Starling, which is migratory in part of its range, but is resident in others.