Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

The introduced European starling began its range expansion into California as early as the late 1930s, and by 1954 it was reported that about 20,000 starlings were spending the winter in or near the Sonoma-Mendocino coast. By 1961, starlings were known to occur in nearly every section of California. Their history in Sonoma County is discussed, including initiation in 1964 of control measures by the County Agricultural Commissioner, at the request of the Farm Bureau. Shooting and trapping efforts are described, as well as evaluations that indicated such control activities were effective in reducing the number of resident starlings in areas of the county. Success in preventing crop damage by use of the Av-alarm device was also noted.