what is this other beautiful bird

I've seen a few of these and other just as beautiful birds just picking at the grass finding worms. What kind of bird is this?

This is one of the most not beautiful birds we have. It's a European Starling, originally released into Central Park, NYC. They have become incredibly invasive and had significant impact on our native cavity nesters (woodpeckers, bluebirds, etc).

All very true.

Here is a page on them hellen.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/European_Starling/id

I think this bird is quite striking too hellen.

They are a beautiful bird, no doubt about that.

Hi Helen,

Sorry if I came across rude in my original post. My dislike of the bird, was in no means directed at you. It's just that I've first hand seen the damage they have caused to our (also beautiful) native species, and it is sad.

They have some pretty amazing flocking and swarming displays. If you search YouTube for them, you can find some very neat examples of how their flock ebbs and flows together, looking almost liquid like. There's an official birding term for this behavior, but I forget what it is.

Best Regards,
Josh

This message was edited May 15, 2009 10:08 PM