My main thought right now is that if the Pokemon info drop passes and there's nothing pertaining to a starling, I don't think it would be at all unreasonable to hard focus on wordplay and puns instead of a literal bird but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
I haven't finished catching up, but this 100% my opinion given revent events.
If we're to take it as being a direct reference to an actual European starling, then perhaps it's Pokemon and we'll just need to wait for more info to drop to test that.
However, like you said, if we don't get an obvious bird reference as a result, then perhaps interpreting the image as meaning "little star" isn't that much of a stretch.
Geno is a little star, so it's just a matter of being patient and seeing if there really is a connection to Geno and Smash.
Also, thank you for everything you contribute to this thread.