Thursday, January 17, 2008

Invasion of the starling hordes

Try as I might to dislike the invasive European starling, I just can't. I love starlings: their dark little shapes looking like big leaves in the trees during winter evenings, the huge flocks of them wheeling over fields in long thick tubular trails of birds, and the funny little sounds they make to one another as they watch me trudge from my car to the building each workday morning.

My bloggy hero DCup took this great shot of one such starling explosion. What a moody scene! Every time I see huge hordes of starlings like this, I say to no one in particular, "I guess they're doing a casting call for a remake of The Birds." I crack myself up.


8 comments:

Mary said...

You know what? As much as I hate to say it, I find them very intriguing. But I hate them. They should NEVER visit feeders.

Fran said...

I learn so much from this blog. And I love that you love and appreciate so much of nature.

Anonymous said...

I chase them from the feeders. I feel so mean when I do. I chase away the Grackles, too. Is that wrong? They're just so bossy.

Thanks for the link! I felt really lucky to get that photo.

RG said...

What I don't like is to have to drive under a big flock flying across the road!!!!

I am fortunate they do not visit the feeder here. Plenty of juncos, chickadees, finches, towhees, nuthatches, and jays, but the starlings stay away.

Dr. Zaius said...

a casting call for "The Birds"? Did you get to meet Tippi Hedren? Yowsa!

KGMom said...

Whew--Delia--at first, I thought you were being invaded by the starlings.
Actually, I agree--what fascinates me about a large flock like that is how they fly--dip and wheel, turn and bank--and all seemingly together with no collisions. Scientists have studied this phenomenon and come up with an explanation of how they do it.
By the way--I finally did my Random 7 Things meme that you tagged me with back in December: here

dguzman said...

Mary--I don't like it when the starlings come to my feeders either, but I usually don't have too many problems with them. It's the RWblackbirds in the summer who are the problem.

Fran--glad to help!

DCup--no, you're not mean. That seed's expensive! I too chase away the nuisance birds. It was a brilliant photo!

Rabbits' Guy--whoa! That is bad.

Dr. Z--alas, La Tippi was not in studio that day...

KGmom--nope, not my starlings. I'll check out your meme. Thanks for playing along!

Matthew Hubbard said...

Fun fact to know and tell: some guy who loved Shakespeare decided that every bird mentioned in Shakespeare should be imported to America so that we would be more cultured. (This is the 19th Century, I believe, when smart people were kind of on the stupid side.) So he brings over some breeding starlings and voila! Instant infestation!