Re: in defense of starlings was: fat birdies

on 01/23/2003 10:46 PM, Theresa- yahoo at tchessie@yahoo.com wrote:

> Pam-  I'm surprised you stop feeding during nesting season- I had always
> thought this was an important time to provide an easy source of food- so the
> parents are away from the nest too long.  Is this incorrect? or advise
> changed?
> 
> Thanks for your input-
> Theresa
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net]On
> Behalf Of Pamela J. Evans
> Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 10:59 AM
> To: gardenchat@hort.net
> Subject: Re: [CHAT] in defense of starlings was: fat birdies
> 
> 
> Bonnie - even here in Texas/zone 8A, I generally feed the birdies from
> around Thanksgiving until I plant my peppers the 1st of April. They're
> so cute when they're plump and they stay warmer that way.
> 
> 
> 
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: "Bonnie M. Holmes" <holmesbm@usit.net>
> Reply-To: gardenchat@hort.net
> Date:  Thu, 23 Jan 2003 08:03:09 -0500
> 
>> 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
>>> -----------------------------------------------
>>> Current Article: Wild, Wonderful Aroids Part 3 - Amorphophallus
>>> http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/shade_gardening
>>> ------------------------------------------------
>>> Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date
>>> http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html
>>> ------------------------------------------------
>>> All Suite101.com garden topics :
>>> http://www.suite101.com/topics.cfm/635
>>> 
>>> ----------
>>>> 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
>>> 
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
>>> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
>> 
>> B
>> 
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
>> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
>> 
>> 
> 
> --
> Pam Evans
> Kemp TX/zone 8A
> 
> 
> --
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
> 
Theresa, I agree.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index