sporting a winter coat

I know most people are not a fan of the European Starling. But you must admit it has lovely plumage!
And I just learned from my bird book this morning that the beautiful white dots on the belly only occur in a molting juvenile in late summer, or a nonbreeding adult from September through February. The spots disappear when the adults start breeding from December through August.
So if we were lost in the wilderness without a calendar, we could still tell the season from the dots, or lack thereof, on the starlings :-)