Wednesday 22 May 2019

Starlings

Starlings are not everyone's favourite I know but there's something about them I really like (I mean really who isn't amazed by a murmuration of thousands of them swooping through the sky!).

It's lucky I do like them as we've been inundated just recently with a burst of juvenile fledglings in the garden, every nearby brood seems to have fledged at once. With the antics of the adults it looks like there will be more to follow too.

At the highest count we had 39 in the garden with just 7 of those being adults, it doesn't sound a lot but our garden isn't the biggest! I've spent a few recent early mornings watching the birds beg for food and practice feeding themselves with increasing success and it's lovely!

All the photos are taken through the window apart from the last one.













14 comments:

  1. I agree with you, Pam, Starlings are wonderful, entertaining, enterprising birds who deserve our admiration and respect. They were introduced into North America and unfortunately pose a serious threat to several native species, and are therefore reviled. It is another case if humans interfering with the natural order of things to the detriment of the indigenous species the transplanted organism wreaks havoc on.

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    1. Yes i'm aware of it being an introduced species there and of course with the amount of young ones I get it's easy to see how quickly they can spread and cause such issues.

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  2. Lovely to see the starling photos and it is great news that you have so many of them locally :) I love the plumage of the adults - they are an under-rated bird I always think.

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    1. I agree, the colours of their feathers are quite stunning!

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  3. Great photos, I too usually get quite a few but no young this year so far. Will have to get some fat balls their favourite. Love hearing all the songs they sing but they don't half make a racket when fall out over food.

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    1. Thanks :) I found suet balls and they along with the fat balls are going down a treat with all the birds! Oh yes the noise sometimes is immense once they all get going!

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  4. As you know we have them here too and I think they are adorable! How fun to have all those babes in your yard, learning the ropes of how to find food in somebody's back garden! :o)

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  5. Great photos. The young ones are very amusing to watch as they squabble amongst themselves, such a noise they make too. Like you we have lots of them at the moment:)

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  6. Wow, 39 is impressive! It's great that they're doing so well :)

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  7. Hello.. great photos of the starlings. We have them turn up occasionally, usually hear them before seeing them. Haven't seen/heard them yet this year.

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    1. Thanks Julie :) They're certainly noisy, you can't miss them usually!

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