At first glance, an adult metallic starling looks completely
black with bright red eyes. Upon closer inspection, a visitor is
rewarded with an iridescent collage of blues, purples, and
greens. If one lone metallic starling is something to give you
pause, the polychromatic flock of over 60 starlings in the Owens
Aviary at the San Diego Zoo is always a complete showstopper!
The metallic starlings start their breeding season in early
spring. For these months the starlings are only interested in
nesting material (see October’s digital ZOONOOZ article on
Owen’s Aviary for their nest-building shenanigans). Once the
nests are fairly well built, we know we have only a few
weeks—the incubation time for a metallic starling egg—before the
flock switches from being crazy for nesting material to being
batty for bugs! Adult metallic starlings are omnivores and eat
everything from fruit and nectar to crickets, mealworms, ants,
and wasps! Baby starlings, however, need a lot more protein than
their parents, hence their depend