« Getting Close
February Daffodils »

Starlings

starlings



       I found these two European Starlings in my front yard last Saturday morning.   Most bird enthusiasts consider these guys to be a nuisance because they have a few bad habits.   They can be aggressive in nature, they tend to show up in large numbers, and drive other species of birds away.

       I took this picture last month.   These two actually look quite friendly.   I have no problem with the starlings visiting my feeders, as long as they behave.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 12:15 am and is filed under Birding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Tails »

  1. Well Elise, As long as you don’t have hundreds of them at one time, I guess they are okay. I like my Pine Siskins –but they tend to take over the feeders. Oh Well!!!
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    Comment by Betsy Adams — February 16, 2009 @ 11:53 am

  2. Oh those are different looking.
    We have those big old black ones,
    but luckily they have not been around.
    I think it’s neat when you see different ones sitting together.

    Comment by Jen — February 16, 2009 @ 12:32 pm

  3. Last year I had a real problem with them. They came and stayed in huge numbers…. 30 to 50 of them! They ate up every bit of food they could get a hold of. I just learned to live with it because I figured there wasn’t much I could do. As the summer wore on I saw less and less of them and this winter I have hardly had any. A few will show up now and then and that I don’t mind. But more than eating up all the food I don’t like the reports that they are aggressive to nesting birds… stealing their nests, pecking holes in eggs and killing nestlings. Supposedly they are responsible for the decline of bluebirds. But there has been a big turn around with bluebirds now that people put up bluebird boxes all over.

    Comment by Jessica — February 16, 2009 @ 2:14 pm

  4. Wow, I guess they can be very destructive. 30-50 birds at one time? That’s a lot of birds. So far the most I have seen at once are three. I hope it stays that way.

    Comment by admin — February 16, 2009 @ 3:17 pm

  5. Pretty picture of the starling and the cardinal. My grandfather always hated starlings, but I never knew why. I just figured he thought they were ugly.

    I’m not sure why my RSS feed does that. It usually fixes itself though. Every once in awhile my feed drops off Ravelry and then shows back up again. I figured it was a blogger problem.

    Comment by Dee — February 16, 2009 @ 4:29 pm

  6. I always thought that they were pretty with all the “stars” against the black feathers. They can come in great numbers to your lawn, though!

    Comment by Margaret — February 16, 2009 @ 7:19 pm

  7. I think their kinda pretty too. I guess it’s their behavior that gives them a bad reputation.

    Comment by admin — February 16, 2009 @ 7:41 pm

  8. Your starlings look quite attractive, all speckly and everything. Interesting pic of the starling consorting with the cardinal.

    Comment by Ben — February 16, 2009 @ 11:02 pm

  9. Your photos of them make them very pretty - almost friendly! But then I look in my backyard and I see them squabbling and being pushy w/ my finches. I guess it’s a love/hate relationship.

    Comment by Shelley — February 17, 2009 @ 9:42 am

  10. I’m not an admirer of these birds myself. I am very glad they don’t come to my yard, or if they do they are sneaky about it.

    Comment by Susie — February 17, 2009 @ 10:43 am

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment