The Lowly Starling

Much maligned as a pest and cursed by many as an “invasive species,” the European Starling has had many fans, too. Eugene Schieffelin introduced about 50 pairs into the United States in the 1890s. And Rachel Carson noted that the starling carries “more than 100 loads of destructive insects per day to his screaming offspring.'' No less a figure than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart kept a pet starling and wrote a poem about it when it died. Read the poem.

Play MP3   Download MP3   View Transcript