Baby Starlings: Chicks, Fledglings and Juveniles

This page follows young Starlings from hatching to their first autumn: what the chicks look like at each age, what they are fed, when they leave the nest, what to do if you find one, and how the brown juveniles turn into spotted adults. For the bird in general, see Starling identification and facts.

A newly hatched Starling is almost naked, with wisps of grey down, closed eyes, a lemon-yellow bill and a bright orange gape. It weighs about 6.4 g. Starling chicks grow fast and are almost fully feathered within three weeks.

These ages come from a classic study of Starlings in nest boxes in New York, summarised in Birds of the World. Chicks in later broods grow more slowly.¹

Both parents bring them insects and other small animals: beetle and moth larvae, leatherjackets (cranefly larvae), millipedes and grasshoppers. Tiny chicks are given small, soft items placed carefully in the throat. At the busiest times a pair can make up to 20 feeding visits an hour, and 100 to 300 a day.¹

On farmland, leatherjackets remain an important food for the chicks.²

More on the adults' food: what Starlings eat.

At 19 to 21.5 days old, according to UK nest records.² In Britain first eggs are laid around 19 April on average; allow a few days of laying, about 12 days of incubation and 19 to 21.5 days in the nest, and most first broods leave in late May and June. Pairs that lay a second clutch do so soon after, so a second wave of young leaves later in the summer.

In the days before they leave, the chicks exercise their wings, stick their heads out of the hole and call for food. When they go, they can already fly.

A fledgling Starling is plain grey-brown with a dark bill and yellow flanges at the corners of the mouth. Fledglings stay near the nest for a day or two, perched in trees waiting to be fed, and lean on their parents for up to 10 to 12 days; then they join flocks of other young Starlings. These first days out of the nest are the riskiest, from starvation and predators: heavier chicks from early broods survive best.

A fledgling with feathers, hopping about on the ground, is not lost: its parents are nearby and still feeding it, so leave it where it is and keep cats and dogs away. If it is in danger, move it a short distance to cover, within earshot of its parents, who find it by its calls.³

A nestling with few or no feathers should not be out of the nest. If you can, put it back. A chick that is injured or certainly abandoned needs a wildlife rescue centre or licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Do not try to raise it yourself: taking baby birds into captivity can greatly reduce their chances of surviving.

Juveniles are almost plain grey-brown, a little paler below, with a whitish throat and a dark bill: very unlike the spotted adults. They start their first moult 4 to 6 weeks after leaving the nest. The body moults first and the head last, so in late summer you see young Starlings with spotted bodies and plain brown heads. By autumn they look like adults, only more heavily spotted.¹

How to tell adult males from females: female Starlings.

Just over half of young Starlings, 52%, survive their first year.² In Britain that first winter has become harder: falling survival of first-year birds is the main reason Starlings have declined (see conservation).

1. Cabe, P. R. (2020). European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), version 1.0. Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.eursta.01
2. BTO. Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). BTO BirdFacts. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source
3. RSPB. What to do if you find a baby bird. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source
4. National Audubon Society (text: Kaufman, Lives of North American Birds). European Starling. Audubon Guide to North American Birds. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source
5. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. European Starling (overview and life history). All About Birds. Accessed 6 October 2026. Source