Red-winged Starlings collecting nesting materials.

What an occasion, as the starlings were close to us at a nursery.

They must have flown up and down at least 30 times, and I have 10 times in here.

We sat at a table to have some coffee at the nursery, and one of the staff was cleaning flowerpots with a hose. I presume that the plants in the pots were sold, and the hose splattered mud and twigs onto the concrete floor. Then suddenly, a starling flew down from the roof and without any care just started to collect nesting material.

Let's see what Wikipedia has to say about the red-winged starlings.

The red-winged starling (Onychognathus morio) is a bird of the starling family Sturnidae native to eastern and southern Africa from Ethiopia to South Africa. An omnivorous, generalist species, it prefers cliffs and mountainous areas for nesting, and has moved into cities and towns due to similarity to its original habitat.

Source

The tag picture is a male starling, and this one below is the female.

The female at the left and the male at the right picking up twigs and mud.

Hard at work flying up and down all the time from the floor to the high roof.

The red-winged starling is territorial, aggressive and intolerant when nesting, and will attack other species, including domestic animals and humans. When not breeding, red-winged starlings are highly gregarious and will associate with other members of their species in large flocks.

This starling is a cliff nester, breeding on rocky cliffs, outcrops and gorges. The red-winged starling builds a lined nest of grass and twigs, and with a mud base, on a natural or structural ledge. It lays two to four, usually three, blue eggs, spotted with red-brown. The female incubates the eggs for 13–14 days, with another 22–28 days to fledge.

Source

As wiki said above, the red-winged starling is territorial and very aggressive during nesting time. So, if I had to stand up and make my presence known to them that male will be sure to attack me.

At times both would come down, and at other times they took turns. I think that the one that remains is busy packing the base of the nest with mud. Exactly the same way that they do on a mountain ledge.

Just this time, they have a steel roof over their heads.

Finally, here's some flying action with the red-winged male taking off.

We visited the nursery, as someone told us that they have cancer bushes, and we wanted to get one. They are not only pretty, but they have numerous health benefits for humans. We thought we were in luck, as there was a young bush there, but sadly we were told that the bush needed full day sun. We don't have any spot in our two small gardens that gets full day sun, and so we had to leave the bush.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting this post.