Meaning & use
starling bird
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A common medium-sized bird with dark feathers that often gather in large noisy groups.
Grammar: Countable noun: a starling bird, two starling birds. Often just called a starling.
Patterns
- a flock of starling birds
- see a starling bird
A starling bird landed on the bird feeder and ate all the seeds.
We saw a flock of starling birds flying over the field at dusk.
The starling bird has shiny feathers that look green and purple in the sun.
Word forms
| plural | starling birds |
|---|
Common combinations
- flock of starlings
- A flock of starlings filled the sky before landing in the trees.
- common starling
- The common starling is found in many parts of the world.
- European starling
- The European starling was introduced to North America in the 19th century.
- starling murmuration
- We watched a starling murmuration, a beautiful swirling cloud of birds.
Synonyms and how they differ
- starling
- The usual term; 'starling bird' is more explicit but less common.
Commonly confused: starling bird or sparrow? starling bird or myna?
starling bird vs sparrow
Sparrows are smaller and usually brown and grey; starlings are darker with shiny, speckled feathers and often gather in larger flocks.
starling bird vs myna
Mynas are related to starlings but are typically larger and have different calls; in some regions they are confused.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'starling bird' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A starling bird is a bird, so option 0 is correct. Option 1 is wrong because it is not a tree. Option 2 uses it as a verb, which is incorrect. Option 3 has a subject-verb agreement error and is not a natural sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “starling bird”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.