Starlings as predators

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Starlings are not native the the US. They were imported by russiona imigrants in the last century. they ate 'em. They carried 'em ofver in little cages eventually the critters got out and ran amuk.

Last evening I was sitting out on the deck overlooking our south 40 enjoying a couple of woodpecker's antics in a tree. There was clearly a nest in a hole in the old elm tree.

Then darkness fell ( on the woodpeckers that is) starlings had clued in to the nest and eggs. They wre most predatory and sophisticated. They'd make advances to the nest the peckers would defend and then the starlings would set off a few feet and just wait while the peckers exhausted themselves with their defensive display. The peckers should have been using the gliom8ing of the evine for catching bugs but the starlings' assaults were preventing that.

Clearly the starlings wanted the woodpecker eggs.

Evening fell and the starlings went away leaving ghe tired hungry woodpeckers to their clutch of eggs.

In the morning when we rose, the woodpeckers had already suffered a total defeat and abandoned their dead nest. The starlings were casually loafing about the tree primping and gloating over their protein rich breakfast.

I was unaware of starlings as predators. Yet they cleary are very accomplished predators. I wonder how much a role these nasty little alien predators have played in the decline of the American songbords in general and how much of it has been laid at the feet of DDT and development and such.

If my new neighbors didn't have children I'd have taken a shotgun to the starlings.

[Jim Becker]

Starlings (and house sparrows, also an "import") are not protected like native birds are for this very reason. Very invasive and predatory in many ways. Fortunately, we don't have too many around out property, but we do monitor the house sparrows to insure they don't interfere with our bluebird population's nesting.

[Lee DeRaud]

Starlings are not native the the US. They were imported by russiona imigrants in the last century. they ate 'em.Well, at least now I know how that whole "chicken nugget" thing got started.:eek: :p

[Joe Chritz]

A quality spring piston air gun. The break barrel type not the pump up style. They are not cheap, about like a decent .22 rifle. Plenty powerful and deadly accurate.

I have smacked a bunch of rabbits and squirrels with one.

Normally I would be against shooting anything I wasn't going to eat, but I think I would classify them as varmits. Just like the theivin, chicken stealing coyotes that USED to run through my back acres.

Happy hunting

Joe

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

Got to agree with the air gun, they will never know what hit them.

We had a real problem back in my hometown with the darn things, my dad hates them, and whenever we saw them building a nest, we'd tear it down for sure.

They were hard on the native birds, and we did our best to keep their population at bay.

Cheers!

[Roger Bell]

I have a wildlife biologist friend who is in charge of the Avian (bird) Program for a large public sector natural resources management agency. She loves birds and her dedication shows....... in more ways than one.

She delighted in telling me how she took a twelve gauge to the local starling population in her rural neighborhood. She had never fired a gun before this.

Think globally....act locally.....eh?.

[Paul Downes]

I usually shoot on sight, especially them varmit birds. I once got over 80 with 8 shots. (#9 skeet loads) Caught the flock on the ground, and when they started raining down the whole flock landed among their fallen pardners and I had time to reload an go again. My neighbor runs a large dairy operation and these birds are of some concern regarding disease vectoring. We call them sky rats. Even the cats refuse to eat them. The cats do like english sparrows. We also try to control that population. It is a shame to see non-native species cause problems with the song bird population. I have taught my boys to differentiate between types.

[Loy Hawes]

I can't help but to laugh at this thread. What truely is native? By the standards here we should start shooting white guys. I bet the "native americans" would agree. Species migrate,are introduced, go extinct,etc. That is life. The only constant is change itself.

[Barry Stratton]

I'll second the pellet rifle idea. I "bagged" two a few years ago in the yard. Darn things have made it to Alaska......

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I can't help but to laugh at this thread. What truely is native? By the standards here we should start shooting white guys. I bet the "native americans" would agree. Species migrate,are introduced, go extinct,etc. That is life. The only constant is change itself.

I can't help but laugh at your equating humans with birds :D

[George Sanders]

My town had a real problem with starlings when I was in high school. It was a prank to set off a firecracker under a tree they were roosting in when someone was walking under them. SPLAT! Of course I never did anything like that. If you believe that I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.
They began roosting in a tree in front of our house and my two older brothers and I stepped out a 1 a.m. with shotguns and lit them up! They never returned to that tree. The starling problem abated when the city counsel allowed certain people to thin out the herd so to speak. The pita people were p.o'ed about it but they were overruled.

[Kevin Herber]

Maybe we could get the starlings to come down here and do something about the grackles.

BTW - with such a huge population of grackles, why don't you ever see one dead? Where do they go?

[Lee Schierer]

I haven't resorted to the shot gun yet, but any starling near my bird feeder in the winter gets to taste lead from my pellet rifle. They can devour a suet cake in a matter of hours and they drive the other birds away too. Even the bluejays give them a wide berth. We seem to get more and more every year.

[Bob Nieman]

From Wikipedia (and many other sources): Although there are approximately 200 million starlings in North America, they are all descendants of approximately 60 birds released in Central Park, New York, by Eugene Schieffelin, who headed an acclimatization society trying to introduce to North America every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.

Pigeons, House Sparrows and Starlings are not protected by law, although you may have to have a hunting license in your state. I am not sure about the latest increasingly widespread alien, Eurasian Collared Doves but I know they are mentioned in the NM hunting regulations. Virtually all other species are covered and protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, regardless of whether they actually migrate. It applies to all bird parts too--feathers, eggs, etc. For those of you who don't like grackles (and I know there are lots of you out there), they are protected

Where I work we have a truck tractor and trailer that have been out of service because a roadrunner laid an egg in the engine compartment a couple of weeks ago. This is a piece of equipment that was used every day, all day, yet the birds managed to lay an egg and start a nest between end of shift Friday and beginning of shift Saturday. This is causing a lot of inconvenience, but since an egg was laid, we can't do anything until the eggs (6) hatch and the babies fledge. As I calculate it, that will be May 11th at the earliest.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I can't help but to laugh at this thread. What truely is native? By the standards here we should start shooting white guys.

I used to but the money's no good any more.

[Mark Cothren]

So are we saying Starlings are illegal aliens here? ;)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

You know............If we'd all pitch in.....one evening a week....shoot one starling..........and have it for dinner..........Shoot....I'll bet they taste just like chicken!:eek: :rolleyes: :D

[Frank Chaffee]

Sing a song of sixpence

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in his counting house counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!

[Kyle Kraft]

Anybody see something happening to this country?

[Lee DeRaud]

Anybody see something happening to this country?Yeah, we're up to our armpits in starlings, doing jobs no American bird will touch.:D :p

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Where I work we have a truck tractor and trailer that have been out of service because a roadrunner laid an egg in the engine compartment a couple of weeks ago. This is a piece of equipment that was used every day, all day, yet the birds managed to lay an egg and start a nest between end of shift Friday and beginning of shift Saturday. This is causing a lot of inconvenience, but since an egg was laid, we can't do anything until the eggs (6) hatch and the babies fledge. As I calculate it, that will be May 11th at the earliest.

That is just wrong.

[Bob Swenson]

Have an other sip of that stuff in the cup loy:rolleyes: