Grackle vs Starling

Grackle vs Starling: Battle of Two Common Passerines

It’s not a rare occurrence of running into either of a Grackle or a Starling as they’re quite comfortable with coming very close to human habitats.

Unique in nature, these two species initially belong to the same passerine order of birds, which translates into a certain extent of shared traits.

That said, their differences are starker than similarities and intense in numbers. Physical appearances remain as a main point of distinction, as well as many major characteristics.

This ‘Grackle vs Starling’ argument aims at picking up on both arenas of these features so that bird lovers can understand one holding the other as the benchmark.

If your scrolling doesn’t stop till the end, you’ll be placed in a delightful position of delving deeper into these two species and learn how remarkably unique each of them are!

Grackle vs Starling Descriptions

Starling and Grackle are both generic names hinting at a broader category of bird families. While the former belongs to the passerine family of Sturnidae, the latter comes from the icterid family.

Common Grackle and Common Starling are two of the representatives from each group who display the most authentic nature of their kind to give us deeper insight into their differences.

Common Grackle

Common Grackle

Source: @lesleygrey10

  • Scientific Name: Quiscalus quiscula
  • Size: 28 to 34 cm (11 to 13 in)
  • Locality: North America
  • Status: Near Threatened
  • Breeding Season: March to July

While the name might call this species ‘common’, it’s actually anything but! Common Grackles have the ability to interpret the earth’s magnetic field and they’re argued to be magnetoreceptive by many researchers. These birds show a unique trait of ‘anting’ when they’re not consuming this insect.

Common Starling (European Starling)

Common Starling

Source: @dawndee1969

  • Scientific Name: Sturnus vulgaris
  • Size: 19 to 23 cm (7.5 to 9.1 in)
  • Locality: Originally Eurasia, introduced in North America, Australia & Africa
  • Status: Least Concern
  • Breeding Season: March to July

Common Starlings are popularly known as European Starlings in America because of their origin. Due to their low-maintenance captivity and trait of being tamed easily, these are kept as pets or even lab animals in different parts of the world.

Mozart had a starling as his pet, which participated in singing while the revered musician played a certain note. Even a tune titled “starling song” was composed by Mozart for his feathered friend!

Time to Identify: Grackle vs Starling!

Suppose you’ve spotted a tiny black passerine or even captured a picture with your camera but are quite uncertain whether it’s a grackle or a starling. These visual differences should help you out in their precise identification!

  • Size: When it comes to Grackles, this species may seem like a regular crow due to its measurements. Sizewise, Grackles are a couple inches larger than Starlings. This difference is visible to the naked eye, so you won’t have to pull out a measuring tape to get this straight.
  • Shape: In terms of physical shape, Starlings show a more round belly as opposed to Grackles. Their legs are more feeble and the beaks are narrower. Even the tail is shorter for Starlings, making it seem like a ball of puff. Grackles carry a more aggressive and tighter posture.
  • Color: For the Grackle, the deep blue head and neck sets it apart from many other black birds, especially Starlings. Wings contain reddish tint which is extended to their longer tail as well. The beak is sharp and shiny, making the bird look luxurious with decoration!

As per the Starling, this species flaunts an alluring pattern of feathers, shades of navy blue on the abdomen and back, with a deep violet around the neck. Head, wings and tails are accented with orange and a yellow beak is pushed outward.

The main signifying feature are the white patterns etched on the bottom half of the body with the top half carrying out similar textured, orange patterns.

With these variances in physicality, you should be able to identify both Grackle and Starling even out in the wilderness!

Vital Differences between Starling & Gackle

In this section, we’ll proceed forward to earn significantly precise knowledge on Grackle & Starling to perceive their dissimilarities at a behavioral level.

No. of Subspecies

The number of subspecies for these two birds is deferred, Common Starling with 12 subspecies whereas Common Grackle only 3. For the latter, these subspecies are divided by bronze & purple color as well as availability in Florida. Common Starling’s 12 subspecies are spreaded across Eurasia and they show authentic traits in each of their localities.

Common Grackle Habitant

Source: @jstollar._

Habitat

Common Grackles are usually found in the eastern Rocky mountain regions of North America. Other than this particular concentration, smaller groups are found throughout most parts of the continent.

On the contrary, Common Starlings are native to the temperate parts of Europe, southwestern Asia and certain areas of Mongolia. However, this species was borrowed to North America, Oceania, parts of Africa and South America, where the introductions have been successful.

Nesting

The Common Grackle nests are planted in tall trees, hidden out of sight. In other cases, colonies are formed near water bodies inside shrubs or bushes. There have been cases of this species living inside tree cavities, nests of other birds, and even man-made structures.

When it comes to nesting, Common Starlings tell us beautiful tales! Their nests aren’t the most neat & tidy ones as they inhabit cavities of trees. But it must be decorated with flowers or green leaves in order to attract the opposite gender. This form of gifting a decorative object is essential for their mating and breeding, which is very unique in bird dictionaries!

Migration

Migration for Common Grackles is strictly regional. The only known instances are of northern birds’ moving toward the south during winter. But Common Starlings are highly migratory toward the west and south within their breeding territories. This species practices habituating one location for summer and another for winter for survival and successful breeding.

Conservation Status

These two birds are currently in different spectrums of IUCN preservation status. While the Common Starling is deemed as Least Concerned despite their loss of number in certain regions, it’s not the same case for Common Grackles.

The species is currently at ‘Near Threatened’ state due to the loss of around 61% of bird numbers. Current number of birds is still huge, at around 73 million worldwide. But a decline at such a rate can run them out of existence within 30-40 years time.

Food Habit

Common Starlings are insectivorous, living off of eating different sorts of arthropods and insects to keep their motors running. From spiders to different types of flies, larvae or worms are their favorite culinary choices. At times, they consume even snails or lizards as an extension to the initial diet.

Starling Food Habit

Source: @naturalworldphotograpghy

You wouldn’t guess it from the size, but Common Grackles are omnivorous since their dietary range begins with seeds or berries and ends up in insects or even rodents. In some cases, this species is known for consuming other, smaller birds. These are popular stealers infamous for snatching food off of other birds’ beaks!

Impact of Human Expansion

Common Starlings are quite popular villains when it comes to agricultural lands. Numerous crops and fruits are ruined each year due to the invasion from this species in large flocks. Their feces have the tendency to cause bacterial infection for humans, and the instances of running into airplane engine propellers have threatened many with their lives.

Common Grackles are much different from the former species in case of human interactions. These birds are, on one hand, suffering due to the loss of forestation and their foraging ground. But on the other hand, they’re finding opportunities to collect food materials from expanded human habitats and even finding nesting places in these territories.

‘Anting’

The ‘anting’ procedure allows a bird to pick up an ant with their bills and seemingly scrub it across their feathers and wings. It’s ideated that such an activity cleans out their feathers and gets rid of any sort of germ or bacteria. Common Grackles usually perform such tasks as opposed to the lack of it by Common Starlings.

Vocalization

Starling sounds are more like clicking and Grackles produce somewhat buzzing sounds. ‘Chewink chewink’ would be the frequent singing noise for the latter. Starlings can produce 14 different types of clicks and up to 35 varieties of songs in particular times.

Common Grackle

Common Starling

Starling vs Grackle: Shared Traits

Starling vs Grackle Shared Traits

Although the differences contribute more among Starling and Grackle, they however have found some degree of similarities in a few aspects.

Taxonomy

Both of these birds have been initially described by Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus within the collection of his major works Systema Naturae back in 1758. Common Starling retained the original Latin name attributed by the revered zoologist, but Common Grackle’s scientific name was later reviewed and changed to better fit its family.

Loss of Habitat

The two species in concern are drastically losing their habitational zones. Common Grackle’s decline in number was already mentioned in my previous section, and such has been the case for Common Starlings as well in parts of Europe. Due to large quantities in other parts of the world, it’s still not categorized as ‘concerned’, but their sufferings due to lack of habitational zones prevail.

Order

Grackle and Starling are two passerines belonging to the order of Passeriformes. Birds of this category often remain perched on branches to assess the situation before hunting, mating or during incubation. Many of the species from this order are songbirds and the two at hand share this trait in unique ways.

Mimicry

Despite having completely different phonetics for calling, alarm sounds or mating songs, Starling & Grackle excel at mimicry. It’s true that catbirds & mockingbirds are the ones for precisely copying a vocalization they hear, Common Starlings aren’t that far off!

Numerous times wanderers have found themselves startled upon hearing a Common Starling’s mimicry, thinking it was an invisible human being speaking. The same can’t be said for Common Grackles because their mimicry is significantly limited in terms of quality and precision.

Given below is a table of differences for Grackle vs Starling to sum up my discussion within half a minute!

Category Common Grackle Common Starling
No. of Subspecies 3 12
Habitat North America Eurasia
Conservation Status Near Threatened Least Concern
Migration Strictly regional Moves to other zones
Diet Omnivorous Insectivorous
Color Iridescent black with freckles Black with blue or purple green
Size Smaller Larger
Anting Yes No
Vocalization Buzzing noise Clicking noise

Thoughts

It’s time to put the debate of ‘Grackle vs Starling’ past our comprehension because all that needed to be highlighted, have been made apparent in this article.

A matter of fact that Common Starlings do arouse some curiosity among individuals who seek symbolic interpretations out of black birds.

Other than that, a key area we must pay heed to is their loss of habitat. We’ve already seen that one of these two species are nearing threat at the moment due to a heavy decline.

The other seems to follow that path as well, and all of it comes around to us, the human beings and our brutal treatment of nature to have our way.

It’s our conscience that needs to be challenged in order to carve out a better world where every species can coexist together in peace, and it must start from this day!

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