Starling Call MP3s
Realistic Sturnus vulgaris flock and contact calls used by hunters, pest controllers and growers for luring, dispersal or decoy work.
Also known as
Recordings (5)
About this species
The Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is a passerine songbird of around 21 cm — glossy black with green-and-purple sheen and pale spangling, the bill yellow in spring. It thrives almost everywhere, from city centres to open farmland.
A gifted mimic, it strings together clicks, whistles and snatches of other birds and machines. It probes turf for leatherjackets and worms and will eat fruit, seeds and scraps. At dusk it gathers in vast, swirling murmurations before pouring into a communal roost. Its voice is woven into the soundscape of the European countryside through spring and summer.
Legal use
The Starling's legal status is genuinely split by country, more than almost any other species on this site. In the United States it is treated as a non-native species excluded from Migratory Bird Treaty Act protection and is widely managed as an agricultural pest, with most states allowing shooting or trapping, sometimes under a permit. In France it has long been managed as a huntable/controllable pest species with an extended season covering much of the year. In Great Britain, by contrast, it is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, though a general licence can permit control to prevent serious damage to agriculture or protect public health in specific circumstances (with somewhat different licensing routes in Northern Ireland). Because status swings between "pest, shoot freely" and "protected, licence required" depending on exactly where you are, please check our full country-by-country disclaimer before using this call for control or hunting purposes.