The Starling: A Biography (6)

The Bird Biography

by Stephen Moss

Following his bestselling biographies of some of our favourite birds, including The Robin, The Wren and The Owl - author and naturalist Stephen Moss now turns his attention to an incredible bird that lives on nearly every continent and, despite seeming plain at first glance, takes our breath away when they take to the skies in huge flocks – the Starling.

Though it is easy to overlook a solitary starling, even with its beautiful iridescent plumage, when they come together in the thousands they take to the skies in awe-inspiring swooping flocks called murmurations. Starlings live almost all over the world - they're are common bird throughout Europe and the Palearctic to western Mongolia, and are recent residents of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa and Fiji, migrating seasonally as far North as Scandinavia. Discover how their love of fruit gets them into trouble, how they can help farmers by eating insects, how their skill for mimicry has inspired centuries of folklore and how they were brought to new continents by one man's passion for Shakespeare.

Genres: Nonfiction, Birds, Nature, Natural History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 3, 2024

About the author

Librarian Note: there is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.

Stephen Moss is a naturalist, broadcaster, television producer and author. In a distinguished career at the BBC Natural History Unit his credits included Springwatch, Birds Britannia and The Nature of Britain. His books include The Robin: A Biography, A Bird in the Bush, The Bumper Book of Nature, Wild Hares and Hummingbirds and Wild Kingdom. He is also Senior Lecturer in Nature and Travel Writing at Bath Spa University. Originally from London, he lives with his family on the Somerset Levels, and is President of the Somerset Wildlife Trust. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moss has written a whole series of accessible bird species monographs suitable for nature buffs; this is the sixth. The choice of the term ‘biography’ indicates the meeting of a comprehensive aim and intimate detail. The book conveys much anatomical and historical information about the starling’s relatives, habits, and worldwide spread, yet is only 187 pages – and plenty of those feature relevant paintings and photographs, too. It’s well known that starlings were introduced to Anglophone countries as part of misguided “acclimatisation” projects that we would now dub cultural imperialism. In the USA and elsewhere, the bird is still considered common. But with the industrialisation of agriculture, starlings are actually having less breeding success and thus are in decline.

Overall, the style of the book is dry and slightly workmanlike. However, when he’s recounting murmurations he’s seen in Somerset or read about, Moss’s enthusiasm lifts it into something special. Autumn dusk is a great time to start watching out for starling gatherings. I love observing and listening to the starlings just in the treetops and aerials of my neighbourhood, but we do also have a small local murmuration that I try to catch at least a few times in the season. Here’s how he describes their magic: “At a time when, both as a society and as individuals, we are less and less in touch with the natural world, attending this fleeting but memorable event is a way we can reconnect, regain our primal sense of wonder – and still be home in time for tea.”

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.

[Katrina Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explores this beautiful, overlooked, distinct species. Told through Stephen's own experiences, historical records, contemporary videos, scientific papers, anecdotes and the birding community.

Witty, up to date, factual yet so very readable. As per usual, top job Mr Moss.

Murmurations are (even more) freaking amazing.

[Ninaminacat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and thorough

This is a fascinating and well researched book which covers not only the behaviour and range of the phenomenally successful European starling, including its role as an invasive species in much of the world, but the numerous other starlings and mynahs of the world. In addition it delves into the origins of the two birds' names as well as exploring, explaining it debunking the various myths about them. The poems and fabulous illustrations complement the very readable text to give an all over impression of the bird. I shall be reading more in this series by Stephen Moss.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, comprehensive look at the species. Bonus points for a lot of relation to a piece I wrote a few years back. Main thing was that I don't think I love in-depth nature books as much as I thought I did.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book about a bird that is often taken for granted. Packed with interesting facts. Of particular interest to me as I live close to the murmurations on the Somerset Levels. Superbly researched and beautiful illustrations.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the text (I didn't find it dry at all), but the illustrations did it for me. An absolutely beautiful little book.

[Stuart Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid book from Stephen Moss, a nice mixture of information and anecdote.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephen Moss has that conversational style that makes everything easy to follow.

[Andrea Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

if there could be an AI version of a book, this would be one. felt like the writer had googled 'starling' and threw the search findings together with a few personal anecdotes...disappointing.