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Although starlings are a tropical family by origin, Tristram's starling is well adapted to living in a desert environment: it loses relatively little water to evaporation and produces less heat than expected for its base metabolic rate. Its dark plumage may help it survive in the desert winter, when temperatures are low but the Sun's radiation ...
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine (perching) birds known for the often dark, glossy iridescent sheen of their plummage; their complex vocalizations including mimicing; and their distinctive, often elaborate swarming behavior, known as murmuration.
Monoptilon bellioides is a short annual plant; in seasons with very little rainfall, the plant may only grow to 1–2 centimetres (1 ⁄ 2 – 3 ⁄ 4 in), if it ...
Common starlings take advantage of agricultural fields, livestock facilities, and other human related sources of food and nest sites. Starlings often assault crops such as grapes, olives, and cherries by consuming excessive amounts of crops in large flock sizes and in new grain fields, starlings pull up young plants and eat the seeds. [122]
The study of plant response in space environments is another subject of astrobotany research. In space, plants encounter unique environmental stressors not found on Earth including microgravity, ionizing radiation, and oxidative stress. [23] Experiments have shown that these stressors cause genetic alterations in plant metabolism pathways.
Like other starlings, the red-winged starling is an omnivore, taking a wide range of seeds, berries, nectar from plants such as Aloe and Schotia brachypetala, and invertebrates, such as the beetle species Pachnoda sinuata. They may take nestlings and adults of certain bird species, such as the African palm swift. [9]
The Southwest is no stranger to sweltering conditions, and desert plants and trees are drought-resistant and heat-tolerant. Arid, harsh environments are where they thrive.
In contrast to other brilliant starlings, which feed mainly on fruits, their diet consists mainly of insects and termites. Adult birds catch insects in flight and dig up termite mounds to find prey. [3] Snails, spiders, crustaceans, or small vertebrates, such as lizards, sometimes integrates the diet.