European starlings in winter regalia.....

(They become mostly sleek, black, irridescent, losing their spots in spring and summer...)

Not native to the U.S.

Not accepted into the American wildlife animal hospitals (they are non-native species)

Not nurtured due to their distant origins

And enormous numbers

Brought to this land by foreigners

Thriving in unbelievable numbers

Still

Beautiful

Funny

Ventriloquists

Endearing

Wild

Birds

Personal note: Don't ever park underneath light fixtures at Von's Markets, where you might happen to notice a giant ring of black ruineous fruit remnants (such as olives or plums), where you can notice the cars beneath the said light fixtures completely covered and in fact corroded with droppings of said birds above, whistling, wheedling, "singing" as they perch on the giant parking lot lights above...

I had a bird once, his name was "Arnie, the Darling Starling"(name taken from a Reader's Digest Story I read about ) whom I lucked upon when he was a fledgling... a young starling who loved to part my toes with his beak, looking for bugs, grapes (man, he loved green grapes) ... I fell in love. I swear, they MUST be distantly related to corvids....