Re: in defense of starlings was: fat birdies

And, starlings are great mimics...known for copying various sounds of the 
city, are now mimicking cellphone rings!  Yesterday, near one of our 
feeders we saw a magnificent pileated woodpecker.   This morning, I awoke 
to another snow fall...second to fall this year...two weeks in a row on 
Thursday.  Thought that I should have filled the feeders last night and 
noticed the Auralie's comment.  Will start doing it.  I usually only fill 
when the temperature gets very cold.  We have had such mild winters that 
seed and insects have been available most of the winter.

I harvested the last of my bok choy yesterday...have been covering it with 
old blanket at night and on days when the temperatures stayed below freezing.

Bonnie 6+ ETN



At 05:45 AM 1/23/03 -0500, you wrote:
>Aw now, I have to come to the defense of starlings.  They may make
>huge flocks, but they're not all bad.  When you see them patrolling a
>section of grass, they're after those big white grubs that turn into
>Japanese beetles and other plant munchers.  Their heads cocked to the
>side mean they're listening for the grubs; they can hear them moving
>underground and those big long beaks are perfect for grubbing them
>out.  So think of them as Japanese beetle killers and you'll think of
>them a whole lot more kindly:-)
>
>Used to have a family of them that lived in our porch roof. They are
>really quite handsome birds; iridescent plumage in the adults.  They
>are also great mimics...their song is a compilation of about every
>other bird in the area and their young are so goofy looking...I used
>to call them all Cuthberts because of it.  Once several of them fell
>out of the nest before they could fly and their solution was to
>stretch themselves up tight into the nearest corner with their eyes
>closed, rather like an the ostrich with its head in the sand...if
>they could just mash themselves into the wood, nobody would see
>them...we eventually screened in the porch and the family had to
>move...I still miss them greeting the day with "their" song and
>that's been years ago.
>
>It's not their fault that they are born to flock; that's their
>nature...it's just us humans who object to it.
>
>Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
>mtalt@hort.net
>Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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>----------
> > From: Aplfgcnys@aol.com
> >
> > In a message dated 01/22/2003 7:52:10 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> > richa@midlands.net writes:
> >
> > > some black with gold speckled really ugly bird e
> >
> > Starlings.  They're awful, aren't they?  And come in huge flocks.
> > Some years ago I encountered a family from the Bronx who had a
>really
> > unattractive child (I know, all children are really beautiful, but
>this
> > little girl was fat and awkward), and her name was Starling.  I was
>sure the
> > people, who were perfectly nice, but having grown up and lived in
>the Bronx,
> > didn't know anything about nature, just thought they were naming
>their child
> > for a bird that they thought sounded pretty.  I hope this child
>grew up to be
> > a lovely woman, and calls herself "Star."  Auralie
>
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