European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) invaded our neighborhood and city

Tom Okey writes:

European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) have invaded our neighborhood in Port Alberni during the last year or two, and this spring we haven't seen the smaller native sparrows that we used to have around our house.

The first record of European Starlings in Port Alberni in the eBird database was by Michael Shepard on 30 July 1970. Other records in Port Alberni. Five more sighting events were recorded during the 1980s, a few more in the 1990s and 2000s, but then suddenly a lot more since 2010. Although time series from the eBird database can reflect increases in effort, the invasion still seems non-linear in the sense that it has appeared to accelerate during the present calendar decade. The current eBird observation map for European Starlings in Port Alberni is linked here.

Recent articles (e.g Bowie 2018) describe some of the expansion and damage caused by European Starlings to both crops and native ecosystems of British Columbia, as well as describing the 15-year-old starling control program in British Columbia.

The decline of some charismatic species are suspected to have been partially driven by the invasion and increase of European Starlings (Elliott 2006)

Literature

Bowie, T. 2018. More than 50,000 starlings euthanized in the Okanagan last year. Alberni Valley News, Mar. 13, 2018 10:42 a.m

Elliott, K., 2006. Declining numbers of Western Screech-Owl in the lower mainland of British Columbia. British Columbia Birds, 14, pp.2-11.

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