Starling showing off
Male Starlings sing to attract a female, but when one appears they start showing off by waving their wings like signalling semaphore. The wing waving isn't vigorous flapping, it's like slow motion flying. I captured this one on St Kilda in the spring and this was the first time I have managed to isolate a displaying Starling even though I have seen it many times. The glossy black plumage has almost lost all of its winter spots which wear off by spring as fragile feather tips. Here's a spotty bird in winter plumage: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/50858871707/in/photolist The iridescence is created not by pigments, but by refraction of light through a microscopically thin transparent layer on the feathers creating colours. Light reflects off both the front and back of this layer and the light travels slower through the layer causing minute phase differences in the light which creates colours. Miniscule differences in the thickness of the layers create different colours; purples or greens in this case. The same thing happens with a drop of oil on a puddle. Each rainbow colour is created by tiny differences in the thickness of the oil layer. But if you catch the bird at the wrong angle the colours disappear and the bird just looks black, exactly the same as the iridescent colours on hummingbirds. Incidentally the word iridescence comes from Iris, the personification of the rainbow in Greek mythology. That's why beautifully coloured things like eyes and flowers are named iris.
The original Old English name for this bird was "Stare" and from the eleventh century the "ling" part was added, but only for young birds of this species. The name Stare persisted in the literature until the late eighteenth century, after which the name Starling prevailed. Its scientific name Sturnus vulgaris translates as Common Starling, and it is still common, but is red-listed because of a more than 50% population decline in Britain.
Starling showing off
Male Starlings sing to attract a female, but when one appears they start showing off by waving their wings like signalling semaphore. The wing waving isn't vigorous flapping, it's like slow motion flying. I captured this one on St Kilda in the spring and this was the first time I have managed to isolate a displaying Starling even though I have seen it many times. The glossy black plumage has almost lost all of its winter spots which wear off by spring as fragile feather tips. Here's a spotty bird in winter plumage: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/50858871707/in/photolist The iridescence is created not by pigments, but by refraction of light through a microscopically thin transparent layer on the feathers creating colours. Light reflects off both the front and back of this layer and the light travels slower through the layer causing minute phase differences in the light which creates colours. Miniscule differences in the thickness of the layers create different colours; purples or greens in this case. The same thing happens with a drop of oil on a puddle. Each rainbow colour is created by tiny differences in the thickness of the oil layer. But if you catch the bird at the wrong angle the colours disappear and the bird just looks black, exactly the same as the iridescent colours on hummingbirds. Incidentally the word iridescence comes from Iris, the personification of the rainbow in Greek mythology. That's why beautifully coloured things like eyes and flowers are named iris.
The original Old English name for this bird was "Stare" and from the eleventh century the "ling" part was added, but only for young birds of this species. The name Stare persisted in the literature until the late eighteenth century, after which the name Starling prevailed. Its scientific name Sturnus vulgaris translates as Common Starling, and it is still common, but is red-listed because of a more than 50% population decline in Britain.