Tweeters,

I was curious what species have been documented to have been evicted by
European Starlings, so I checked the European Starling review article in
the Birds of North America series sponsored by the American Ornithologists'
Union, which is by Paul R. Cabe in 1993, and is number 48 in that series.
It says (page 10),

"Starlings aggressively evict other species from nesting cavities,
including woodpecker species which excavate cavities. In their native
range, starlings compete with woodpeckers, hoopoes (Upupa epops), and other
cavity-nesting birds (Feare 1984). In North America, they compete
aggressively for nesting cavities with Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa), Buffleheads
(Bucephala albeola), Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus), Red-bellied
Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus), Gila Woodpeckers (M. uropygialis),
Acorn Woodpeckers (M. formicivorus), Great Crested Flycatchers (Myiarchus
crinitus), Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), Purple Martins (Progne
subis), Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis), and other cavity nesting species
(see Bent 1950, Ingold 1989, Kerpez and Smith 1990)."

Sources cited are:

Bent, A.C. 1950. Life histories of North American wagtails, shrikes,
vireos, and their allies. U.S.National Museum Bulletin 197: 182-214.

Feare, C.J. 1984. The Starling. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford.

Ingold, D.J. 1989. Nesting phenology and competition for nest sites among
Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers and European Starlings. Auk
106:209-217.

Kerpez, T.A., and N.S. Smith. 1990. Competition between European Starlings
and native woodpeckers for nest cavities in saguaros. Auk 107:367-375.


Dick Johnson
Conner Museum &
School of Biological Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-4236
johnsonre at wsu.edu