Peanut Returns!

Yesterday morning’s trip to refill the feeders revealed a pleasant surprise: a Red-breasted Nuthatch had returned! There was only the one sighting but I’m hopeful his extended family won’t be far behind.  The last few weeks have seen a heavy invasion (infestation) of Starlings who steal ALL the premium specialty blends which makes me wonder if this is why my sweet little birds pulled out so early?  To combat the problem, I drove into Menard’s and purchased a Stokes’ cage feeder   that is very wide thus prohibiting larger birds from reaching in and raiding.  Peanut was the first bird in when the new feeder went up so I’m certain it met with his approval.  I will continue to monitor the situation.  

A Second Look at Starlings

Yesterday’s extraordinary video about Starling murmuration got me thinking more about this bird and its rightful place in the American avian community.  These birds did not fly across the pond but were brought here by misguided humans.

As the story goes, in the late 19^th century a group called the American Acclimatization Society thought it would be cool to introduce into the U.S. every bird mentioned in Shakespearean plays.  This is the same group that also introduced the House Sparrow to our shores.

Around 1890 about 100 starlings were released in New York City’s Central Park.  Sixty years later the birds could be found across the entire continent.  Today their North American numbers top 200 million.  As bird-watcher Jeffrey Rosen put it in a 2007 New York Times article, “It isn’t their fault that they treated an open continent much as we ourselves did.”

It is my opinion that since humans created the situation we have a moral obligation to deal with the problem in a humane  and ethical manner.

After years of birding experience, I have developed practices that I believe are fair and sensible and in the best interests of all my avians. 

For starters, I put sunflower hearts and the fancy specialty blends, like fruit and nut mix, in cage-type feeders.  If Starlings, or for that matter Blue Jays or other large birds wish to hang on the bottom and eat off the “floor” that is fine with me.  The fallen food will only mildew anyway. 

Starlings, on account of their strange jaw-type beaks, have a difficult time eating regular black oil sunflower seeds so I keep my easy to access platform feeders filled with the husk-on variety.

After the pricey fruit blends, Starlings next choice is suet.  After going thru literally hundreds of cakes “stolen” by Crows I now buy only the Stokes brand locked suet feeders.  With a hinged door that snaps shut on the top, the cake cannot be tossed out of the holder and onto the ground.   This style feeder requires birds to actually perch and feed from the basket rather than leisurely eating off the earth and thus drastically reduces “piggish” behavior. 

Placement of feeders also helps a great deal in controlling avian feeding.  After years of shooing them away from the little birds’ food, the Starlings and Crows now, for the most part,  stay away from the front yard.  

Starlings and Crows are welcome to eat in the backyard and gazebo area where I put out suet cage feeders with bargain brand cakes.

When it comes to nesting and roosting cavities, all I can do is make sure that dead trees in the forest are left alone.  There seems to be enough habitat for everyone as this year’s crop of Red-bellied, Downy and Hairy  Woodpeckers is large and thriving. 

I like to think I am treating the Crows and Starlings with the compassion that all God’s creatures deserve.  When I first started in birding, I must admit I was turned off by the attitude of some “professional” birders.  Many only wished to feed the “pretty” birds and bought feeders that prevented some species, like the sweet little House Finches, from eating.  From the start I made a pledge I would never become a bird snob. 

I truly believe there is beauty to be found in every bird, as, apparently, do many others, for Starlings are not without their admirers.  Some avian enthusiasts delight in the bird’s intelligence, marvel at their acrobatics and are amazed at their ability to imitate other birds, sounds, etc.  Because they are considered a “nuisance bird,” the law allows people to raise abandoned baby Starlings so they are becoming more common and popular as pets.

To learn more about Starlings, please visit this excellent website which presents contradictory evidence that these birds are harmful to native species.  

http://www.starlingtalk.com/index.htm

And listen to Pepper, the amazing communicator.

Starling Ballet

I received the video below in an email.  The footage is truly amazing.  Here’s the accompanying narrative:

*No one knows why they do it. Yet each fall, thousands of starlings dance in the twilight above England and Scotland. The birds gather in shape-shifting flocks called "murmurations," having migrated in the millions from Russia and Scandinavia to escape winters frigid bite. Scientists aren't sure how they do it, either. The starlings' murmurations are manifestations of swarm intelligence, which in different contexts is practiced by schools of fish, swarms of bees and colonies of ants. As far as I am aware, even complex algorithmic models haven't yet explained the starlings aerobatics, which rely on the birds' quicksilver reaction time of under 100 milliseconds to avoid aerial collisions and predators in the giant flock.

Despite their tour de force in the dusky sky, starlings have declined significantly in the UK in recent years, perhaps because of a decline in suitable nesting sites. The birds still roost in several of Britain's rural pastures, however, settling down to sleep (and chatter) after their evening ballet.

Two young ladies were out for a late afternoon canoe ride and fortunately one of them remembered to bring her video camera. What they saw was a wonderful murmuration display, caught in the short video.

I have mixed feelings about Starlings.  While I love all wild birds, Starlings are not native to the United States and have caused a host of problems.  In the cold weather months I deal with them daily and have found them to be, without a doubt, the dirtiest of birds.  They defecate everywhere and on anything, including their food and in their water.  I am always cleaning feeders and changing water to prevent transmission of disease.  But even more serious is their effect on native cavity-dwelling birds.  For instance, ornithologists have  attributed the recent decline of Red-bellied Woodpeckers to marauding starlings who steal their nesting and roosting spots.

In their native Europe, however, they are truly something to see as this video demonstrates.  

*Lending yet more credence to my argument that there is much  humans do not yet know or understand about animals!