Starling Nest, or Nests

European Starling Nest. Habitat artifact for an invasive specie from the Hartford Woolen Company Warehouse Art Studio Building, Hartford Village, Vermont. Organic material and commercial insulation (bitumen-treated paper, protein-based glue, flannel and possibly other fibers). 21 – 28 cm. Mid-to-late 20th century.

fl/fa;1992;03;gu

This nest of the Common European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) was removed from the Hartford Woolen Mill Warehouse building during its renovation to artist studio and living spaces in the late 1990’s. Grasses, sedges and other organic material has been combined with domestic refuse in this telling example of the starlings’ compatibility to urban settings. Artists (homo-sapiens) are not the only invasive species to utilize unused formerly industrial structures in adaptive ways. There is also a family of grey squirrels living (2003, c. e.) in the partitions of this Hartford artist's building, as well as other buildings in town inhabited by artists. European Starlings were imported to the United States by an organization whose mission was the introduction of all birds mentioned in Shakespeare into the United States. (Hotspur: I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak—“Henry IV, Part 1”) For this purpose, one hundred breeding pairs were freed in New York’s Central Park. Thus this introduced, alien species is now one of America’s commonest birds.

—Gift of Matt Bucy