Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Common starling

Common starling

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/May 17, 2015 by Brianboulton (talk) 20:26, 28 April 2015 (UTC)



The common starling is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm long and has glossy black plumage, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts, with an unmusical but varied song. The starling has about a dozen subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and western Asia, and it has been introduced elsewhere. This bird is resident in southern and western Europe and southwestern Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter. The starling builds an untidy nest in a natural or artificial cavity in which four or five glossy, pale blue eggs are laid. These take two weeks to hatch and the young remain in the nest for another three weeks. This species is omnivorous, taking a wide range of invertebrates, as well as seeds and fruit. The starling's gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.
 * Most recent similar article(s): 1 April Invisible Rail
 * Main editors: Jimfbleak, Cwmhiraeth
 * Promoted: April 2013
 * Reasons for nomination: we hear the "noisy bird" now ;)
 * Support as nominator. Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:23, 25 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Support COI declaration. I was one of the co-editors. The article meets the standard, and I think it's always good for collaborative pages to be shown since, well, that's what we are about Jimfbleak - talk to me?  05:45, 26 April 2015 (UTC)