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# starling

«starling» in Mova's school dictionary: **a common bird with dark shiny feathers that look purple…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a starling, starlings)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A starling is a common bird with dark shiny feathers that look purple and green in the sun, often covered in small pale spots in winter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#m1)

2) A large swirling flock of starlings in the evening sky is called a murmuration. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science and nature lessons, starlings are known for murmurations: thousands of birds twisting in the sky together without crashing, each bird copying its nearest neighbours. Starlings are clever mimics and can copy car alarms and phone ringtones. They live in Europe and were brought to North America, Australia and New Zealand, where they are now very common and sometimes pests. Phrases: a flock of starlings, a murmuration of starlings, common starling.

### examples

- Starlings gathered on the roof every evening. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x1)
- We watched a murmuration of starlings over the pier. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x2)
- The starling copied the sound of a phone ringing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x3)
- A starling's feathers shine purple and green in the sun. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x4)
- Starlings eat insects and grubs from the lawn. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x5)
- Starlings were brought to New Zealand by settlers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x6)
- The starling flew off with a worm in its beak. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x7)
- Thousands of starlings make shapes in the sky like a cloud. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x8)
- The little white Princess always woke in her little white bed when the starlings began to chatter in the pearl gray morning. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/#x9)

### note

Countable: one starling, starlings. Pronounced «STAR-ling». Not related to «star» in the sky, despite the spelling. In some countries starlings are a pest species because they take nest holes from native birds. A murmuration is the special word for their flock in flight.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «starling» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/starling/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.