Common Starling

Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is a medium starling with glossy black plumage carrying purple-green sheen and pale speckles, pink legs and a bill that turns yellow in breeding condition. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It feeds socially on soil invertebrates, fruit and seeds in grassland and towns, nests in cavities and forms immense coordinated flocks outside breeding; it also mimics other sounds. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).