To Stuart MacKay's paean to starlings, I'll add that there's a book about them.

The Starling, by Christopher Feare, Oxford University Press, 1984.

There have been many many more recent papers on this fascinating species,
too. Like Stuart, I have been a starling defender for years (when I was
quoted in the newspaper as having said "kill 'em all" in Occidental Square,
it was a response to a problem, not that I don't like them).

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416