Developing an Effective Management Plan for Starlings Roosting in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska

European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) began roosting in downtown Omaha, Nebraska during the fall of 2004 causing significant financial loss and threats to human health and safety. Property owners exhausted a variety of nonlethal methods to deter roosting starlings before contacting U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services in January 2005. We developed an integrated wildlife damage management plan that incorporated local population reduction through the use of the avicide DRC-1339®, trapping, hazing, and habitat modification. Strong working relationships developed as we provided technical assistance to the city of Omaha, building managers, and property owners who experienced starling damage. We used radio telemetry on 57 starlings during the winter of 2005–2006, and attached leg bands and colored leg streamers to 4,900 starlings from 2005–2010 to accurately pinpoint feeding, roosting, and staging sites in a 45 km (28 mi) radius of downtown Omaha. Over the last 6 winters, we encountered greater than 400 banded starlings, providing insight on starling movement important to the development of an effective management plan for starlings that roost in downtown Omaha, Nebraska