Mating System: monogamous
Breeding season generally begins in the spring and ends in early summer (for the Northern Hemisphere, from late March until early July and for the Southern Hemisphere, from September to December). The length of the breeding season fluctuates from year to year. Endemic starlings in Europe commonly go through three distinct phases of breeding, each resulting in a clutch of eggs. The first clutch, containing about five eggs, is usually synchronized with egg laying of other starlings in the area. The second or "intermediate clutch" of eggs, is the result of the starlings' polygynous practice. The third clutch, which is not as synchronized as the first, typically occurs about forty to fifty days after the first. Starling eggs are predominantly glossy light blue and white. Incubation of these eggs lasts about eleven days. Females, with more developed incubation patches, incubate the eggs for the majority of time. Because of the starlings' high fertility as well as its polygyny, and its ability to utalize a broad spectrum of foods and habitats starlings are able to both multiply and invade rapidly. (Craig and Feare 1999; Kahane 1988).
Breeding interval: European starlings may lay more than one clutch in the same breeding season, particularly if the eggs or babies from the first clutch did not survive. It is more common for birds living in southern areas to have more than one clutch, probably because the breeding season is longer.
Breeding season: European starlings breed from March to July.
Range eggs per season: 4.0 to 7.0.
Range time to hatching: 15.0 (high) days.
Range fledging age: 21.0 to 23.0 days.
Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); fertilization
Average eggs per season: 5.
European starling chicks are helpless at birth. At first the parents feed them only soft, animal foods, but as they grow older the parents bring a wider variety of plant and animal foods. Both parents feed the young and remove their fecal sacs from the nest. Young leave the nest after 21 to 23 days but are fed by the parents for a few days after this. Males give little or no parental care to the last of clutches if they have had more than one clutch in the season. Once the young are living independently, they form flocks with other young birds.
Parental Investment: altricial ; male parental care ; female parental care