A friend from church had a question for me. As a relatively new mom she was spending more time at home now that she had a little girl to care for, and was thinking more about the world of interesting things to introduce her daughter to. One day she found herself looking at her backyard and wondering what a particular bird was. So she asked me (Nature Girl) for help. "What kind of bird is it that looks like an oil slick?" Well, it could be nothing else.

The European Starling was introduced to the United States in the 1890's and has since become wide spread, now estimated to number around 200 million in North America. They are known to outcompete our native cavity nesting birds for nesting space and are a source of several problems to farmers.

Location: Magee Marsh State Park, OH