When I saw this European Starling in the middle of a flock of sparrows, my first thought was: you don’t blend in. He might as well have had a sign around his neck that read: spare starling seeking flock. It was a brutally cold and windy January morning on the National Mall in Washington, D. C., and there were no other starlings in sight. Regardless of species, all of the birds huddled together and fluffed up their feathers to keep warm. I’m also struck by the contrast between the starling’s brilliant, saturated colors and the otherwise spare, earthy color palette of the flock and its surroundings.