Bird
European Starling
Sturnus vulgaris
Lives in Alabama all year and nests here. Found in all 67 counties, across 24 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 24

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 24
- Habitat models
- Year-round
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 24
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Cliffs, ledges and rocky summits


Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone

Granite and other acidic rock outcrops



Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.
Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.
Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Tree plantations and managed pine
Planted or intensively managed stands of pine or hardwoods grown for timber; a land use rather than a natural community.
Other habitats in its models (181)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama.
- Developed, Low Intensity Year-round.
- Developed, Medium Intensity Year-round.
- Developed, High Intensity Year-round.
- Quarries, Mines, Gravel Pits and Oil Wells Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Interior Calcareous Cliff and Talus Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Interior Acidic Cliff and Talus Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Appalachian Acidic Cliff and Talus Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Montane Cliff Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Rocky Summit Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Hardwood Hammock Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southwest Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southeast Florida Coastal Strand and Maritime Hammock Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Year-round.
- South Florida Pine Rockland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Inter-Mountain Basins Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany Woodland and Shrubland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi Delta Maritime Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Year-round.
- Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Maritime Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Maritime Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest - Offsite Pine Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Appalachian Shale Barrens Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Acadian Low-Elevation Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northern Crowley's Ridge Sand Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Open Understory Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-Line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Montane Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Pine Barrens Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Acadian-Appalachian Montane Spruce-Fir Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Spruce-Fir Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Oak Barrens Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Dry Prairie Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Recently Logged Areas Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Recently Burned Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Recently Burned Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Recently Burned Grassland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Treed Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round.
- Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Red River Large Floodplain Forest Year-round.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Year-round.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Pine Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Seasons in Alabama
- Year-round: nests here, in all 67 counties. Introduced.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 1127
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Alabama. Shared habitat, not food.
- Red MapleAcer rubrum
- Pignut HickoryCarya glabra
- SweetgumLiquidambar styraciflua
- White OakQuercus alba
- White AshFraxinus americana
- TuliptreeLiriodendron tulipifera
- Poison-ivyToxicodendron radicans
- Post OakQuercus stellata
- American BeechFagus grandifolia
- Southern Red OakQuercus falcata
- Flowering DogwoodCornus florida
- Loblolly PinePinus taeda
- Water OakQuercus nigra
- Serenoa repensSerenoa repens
- Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata
- Mockernut HickoryCarya tomentosa
- Mountain LaurelKalmia latifolia
- BlackgumNyssa sylvatica
- Virginia CreeperParthenocissus quinquefolia
- Black OakQuercus velutina
- Winged ElmUlmus alata
- Florida MapleAcer floridanum
- Eastern RedbudCercis canadensis
- Northern SpicebushLindera benzoin
Wildlife 255
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Alabama. Not sighting records.
- Loggerhead ShrikeLanius ludovicianus
- Northern ParulaParula americana
- Northern Rough-winged SwallowStelgidopteryx serripennis
- Palm WarblerDendroica palmarum
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinica
- Rusty BlackbirdEuphagus carolinus
- Short-eared OwlAsio flammeus
- SoraPorzana carolina
- White-winged DoveZenaida asiatica
- Wood ThrushHylocichla mustelina
- Acadian FlycatcherEmpidonax virescens
- American WoodcockScolopax minor
- Black-billed CuckooCoccyzus erythropthalmus
- Blue-winged WarblerVermivora pinus
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
- Chestnut-sided WarblerDendroica pensylvanica
- Eastern BluebirdSialia sialis
- Gray CatbirdDumetella carolinensis
- Long-billed DowitcherLimnodromus scolopaceus
- Marsh WrenCistothorus palustris
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- Ring-necked DuckAythya collaris
- Savannah SparrowPasserculus sandwichensis
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP year-round habitat model for European Starling Avoids forest interior
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)
















































