Paul, The bill colour in starlings changes according to the seasons and sex of the bird. You will start to notice bill changes from mid winter onwards so these will be some of the first to go.
The Cotswold Water park sightings website
My Flicker page
Interesting. Starlings have been returning to the area over the past few days. I'll look at my lot and see what colours there are. Do you know which colours occur in which sex?
Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos
(One bush does not shelter two Robins)
Zenodotus (3rd Century B.C.)
Unknown said: Interesting. Starlings have been returning to the area over the past few days. I'll look at my lot and see what colours there are. Do you know which colours occur in which sex?
And heres a male in the back garden last winter,showing a blue base to beak.
Regards Shane
My Photos in Flickr.
Hi- Starling bills are normally yellow- orange would be very unusual. Can't say I've seen one.
S
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box
Shane said: Interesting. Starlings have been returning to the area over the past few days. I'll look at my lot and see what colours there are. Do you know which colours occur in which sex?
[/quote]Most helpful. It's something relatively easy to spot (with the camera), so I'll look closely at the Starlings as they return to the garden.
I wasn't actually aware of the colour changing through sex/season, quite interesting. I will have to try and get a photo of one of these ones with orange bills and post it up in the next few days, as it really does stand out and from my limited experience, it's not something I've seen before.
I thought the bill colour changed after the 1st winter
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can