 After two failed attempts , about 60 common starlings were released in 1890 into New York 's Central Park by Eugene <unk> . He was president of the American <unk> Society , which tried to introduce every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare into North America . About the same date , the Portland Song Bird Club released 35 pairs of common starlings in Portland , Oregon . These birds became established but disappeared around 1902 . Common starlings <unk> in the Pacific Northwest in the mid @-@ 1940s and these birds were probably descendants of the 1890 Central Park introduction . The original 60 birds have since swelled in number to 150 million , occupying an area extending from southern Canada and Alaska to Central America . 
