Starlings

Scientific Name: Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus (Family Sturnidae)

Starling Biology

Nest Encroachment: Starlings have been reported to dump eggs into the nests of Bluebirds. This activity can help contribute to the decline of the Bluebird species in the U.S.

Legal Status: No Federal protections as they are an introduced species (ie. Starlings are not a species native to the U.S.) Your state may have its own protections.

Manual for Bird Control (general training overview)

Manual for Bird Control (professional exclusion equipment installation guide)

Starling Sign

The photo to the right is a typical example of a starling nest inside of a house attic. Yes, they do grow over time to become several feet high. Wildlife Damage Control thanks Lowell Leemkuil of Sherlock Home Inspectors for granting permission to use this photo.

Before Removing A Nest

There are two sorts of dangers when handling birds. The first is the ectoparasites that can exist in and around the bird and its habitat. These can be often killed with pesticides or prevented with appropriate protective clothing. The second danger consists of various diseases. You should always wear an appropriately fitted HEPA filter maks (at minimum) before any bird nest removal in your attic or property. While statistically speaking the risks are small. Statistics don't matter if you are infected. You can also consult our disease page

Starlings enter and build nests in bathroom exhaust vents and dryer vents. Once inside the process to get them removed can be complicated, especially if there are young involved. However, you can prevent this from happening by installing a vent guard. The vent guard is a low cost, easy to install product that will protect your vents from bird entry.

Starling Winter Activity

Starlings, like crows, congregate together during cold weather. These congregations can be starlings wintering together enormous. Here is a photo of a number of birds of a feather flocking together. These gatherings can be dispersed using a variety of methods including lethal control. (photo by Stephen Vantassel)

Starling Control

Non-lethal Starling Control

Repellents and Starlings

Jerrold Belant, Paul Woronecki, Richard Dolbeer, and Thomas Seamans published a study in the Wildlife Society Bulletin 1998 26(2): 264-268. Entitled "Ineffectiveness of five commercial deterrents or nesting starlings". Essentially their study took a 81 nesting boxes and tested the effectiveness of phenethyl alcohol, eye spots, magnetic fields and effigies. Essentially, they found that none of these products worked. However, you may want to know that starlings can smell. There were a few caveats to their conclusion.

First, they theorized that the products may have worked if they were tested on an area that the starlings were not as attracted too. Housing is a pretty desirable asset. In Bird Barrier terms, housing is a high pressure site. They also wondered if the deterrent devices were used in combinations, whether the results would have been better.

Conclusion, the search continues for an effective repellent for starlings. Until then, continue using exclusion devices.

Chemical Fogging

There is a chemical fogger on the market that can be used to disperse bird roosts. The fog repellent uses the same principal ingredient as grape soda and bubble gum, which is distasteful to starlings and causes them to move elsewhere. (Source INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ Jan 15, 2003) While I hear it has been very effective, interested individuals should consider the possible fall out when/if the fog is pushed by the wind into a residential area or a crowd of people.