One characteristic of sociality is the fact of being attracted by conspecifics. However, individuals reared in isolation may be disturbed by the presence of conspecifics and they can even stay away from conspecifics when given the opportunity to interact with them. This may reflect troubles in discrimination and/or social attraction. Here, we evaluated whether starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) reared with no adults would be attracted by conspecifics depicted in pictures when socially isolated. Hand-reared male starlings were offered the possibility to see either social pictures (i.e. pictures of unfamiliar conspecifics) or non-social pictures (pictures of landscapes) by triggering sensors freely. Our data showed that only half of the starlings used the sensors steadily to see pictures, and, as a group, they did not exhibit any preference for one type of pictures or the other. This contrasts with the fact that adult wild-caught starlings, when isolated, show a high motivation to obtain pictures of conspecifics. This suggests that adults are necessary for attraction by conspecifics to develop.