Although fewer animal species than plants have been brought into North America, their effects on the native ecosystems have been just as significant.
The European Starling, which arrived in the province in the 1940s, has strong ties to cities and agricultural areas in Europe, and it was immediately successful in similar habitats here. In fact, it performs valuable ecological services in those sorts of places, where few native species have prospered. Starlings probably wouldn't be considered pests in British Columbia were they not aggressive, hole-nesting birds. The arrival of this bird coincides with the decline of native hole-nesting species such as Lewis' Woodpeckers, Western and Mountain Bluebirds, and Purple Martins, with which it vigorously competes for the limited number of nesting cavities.
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