The Starling can be a tricky one to photograph at Druridge. In towns and cities they can be very tame, and feed from garden feeders, but on the coast starlings tend to be quite rural. They fly in small flocks and gather in treetops, or in the winter, gather in very large, mobile flocks and feed in the fields and meadows (as shown in the bottom photo). You can often hear their chattering (whistles and buzzes) as they seem to be all talking to each other at once.

Easy to identify by their black plumage with metallic sheen, they have fantastic little white 'stars' all over. Their stars are most striking in the winter, and gradually wear out during the year, so they end up almost plain black in the summer.