Native to Europe and central Asia, the European Starling has been spread to other continents, such as the Americas and Australasia, by European settlers.
In the winter starlings gather to roost in huge flocks, sometimes numbering over a million birds, and perform spectacular aerial displays at sunset before settling down for the night.
It was introduced to North America in March 1890 by Eugene Schieffelin, who had the bizarre obsession of introducing all the birds mentioned by Shakespeare to the United States. From an initial release of 80 birds in Central Park, New York, it took the European Starling only 60 years to spread throughout North America and arrive on the Pacific coast.
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