starlings

[fish48]

having fun feeding starlings by hand

 

[jaylach]

I had a starling as a pet when I was a little kid that I 'saved' after a storm and found on the ground. The poor thing was so young it was still mostly without feathers. Fed it wet hard boiled egg yolk with an eye dropper. Got it flying and all that and it was time to release. Put the opened cage outside and it took off. Went back later to bring in the cage and the danged thing was back inside. LOL! Why go anywhere when you can get free food?

 

[emeraldking]

I had found a starling chick once. And I didn't see a starlings nest. So, I decided to feed it by hand. But at some point the assumable mother was ticking at our window as if she knew that I had her child. I went to the backyard with this chick in a box. It didn't take that long before the mother flew to the box. Not always will a mother accept her chick again once a human's hand has touched her child. But this one didn't. I put the box on our pergola. And she kept feeding her young until it was old enough to fly by itself. But both mother and chick were not scared by me and she let me come close.

 

[Back in the fold]

I’ve heard stories about Starlings and after reading these comments I believe them . They come to my bird feeders during the worst of winter looking for something , anything , to eat but sunflower seeds and millet doesn’t really help them much . They like the suet blocks but I’d like to give them something that will stick to their ribs . Any suggestions ?

 

[Colin_T]

I’ve heard stories about Starlings and after reading these comments I believe them . They come to my bird feeders during the worst of winter looking for something , anything , to eat but sunflower seeds and millet doesn’t really help them much . They like the suet blocks but I’d like to give them something that will stick to their ribs . Any suggestions ?

The only bird feeders I am interested in are the ones that go round and round and round with squirrels on them. Watch it to the end, the last squirrel can't even walk straight

 

[GaryE]

When I was a kid, I liked birds, and really rarely saw anything but starlings and English house sparrows in my very urban world. Both have become relatively uncommon here, as native birds surged back once we had some environmental regulations, and the invasives have fallen back quite a bit. I like starlings, but my gang are the local crows, who are very smart birds indeed.

I watched an epic battle between a pair of crows defending their young and an American Eagle on a raid a couple of years ago, and that was courage. The crows were badly injured, but won, and I worked at getting good food to them while they recovered from some nasty talon gashes. I don't like to interfere with the wild world, but after what they'd done, I didn't want their young to starve with the injuries to the parents slowing them down. Once the scars were covered in feathers, I cut back to nothing, but the crows are still around a few years on, and often check me out.

I have local chickadees that will land on my hand. And I've been using the Merlin app from Cornell University to identify birds by their song. It's been an eye opener, even if my opened eyes haven't done much. I'm surrounded by small songbirds I rarely see. Sometimes the app has picked up 4 or 5 tiny species I would not have known were there if I had counted on visual identification. Birds are air fishes and we're just awkward beasts that lumber along on the bottom, unable to swim like the quick ones.

As for feeder foods, in the winter I go with volume. I can fill the feeder every few days for the birds that overwinter.

 

[Essjay]

We have a flock of starlings which descend on our lawns every autumn looking for grubs. We also have crows which are currently ripping up tufts of turf from the lawns. At least their beaks are big and strong enough to dig deep holes so they aerate the lawns for us.

We have almost given up on bird feeders. The woodpigeons have learned how to tip them on the side so the food falls out. I need to find feeders which are both squirrel and woodpigeon proof.

 

[gwand]

Squirrel-proof bird feeders do not exist!

 

[Colin_T]

Squirrel-proof bird feeders do not exist!

maybe not but they are hilarious to watch, especially when the squirrel holds on for too long and can't walk after

I have seen drunk people walk in a straighter line than the last squirrel in that clip

 

[jaylach]

I was thinking about these birds and have always been fascinated on how they fly in what seems impossible formations with hundreds of birds involved. It is just freaky and I LOVE it. They hit here where I am in the fall and I just love to sit back and watch hem do their aerobatics..

birds that fly in acrobatic formations - Search Videos

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[GaryE]

I like birdwatching in a casual way. They're just air fishes.
There were some fantastic migrations of native species last week, and the starlings are in here this week. They arrive in the thousands and fill the big trees, yelling their heads off.
What I love are the tiny migratory shore birds. They come here to feed up on the beaches and marshes before they migrate over the open sea, flying for days without rest or food. Their formation flying is so exact. It's really something to watch, and right now, it's still all around me here. I love what we call the sand peeps.