Mike Patrick, thorn dulled sez:

> I am certainly a strong proponent of protecting our native ecosystems
> (and people). But I cannot bring myself to exterminating the 100's of
> Starlings now in my neighborhood. Why? Because "nuisance" is all a matter
> of perception. Consider that Starlings and House Sparrows "evolved" into
> a kind of symbiosis with old world style cities. When I bird away from
> "people" habitat I find no House Sparrows and very few Starlings, they just
> don't seem to fare well in native habitat (I welcome criticism of this
> observation, and everything).

Rather than criticise your observation regarding house sparrows and
starlings outside cities, may I rather suggest you broaden your birding
horizons (a polite way of pointing out you're full of ...)?

Starlings and house sparrows are more than a "nuisance". Their deletorious
effects on several native species are well documented. I won't attempt
to educate you here, but you could begin by reading about the status
of Lewis's woodpecker in oak stands in western Oregon. Oak Island, outside
Portland, had a thriving population of this 'pecker. Its disappearance
coincides with the arrival and subsequent explosion in numbers of the
starling, which outcompetes it for nest cavities.

It is not an issue of ethics, but protection of our native ecosystems.

>Further rambling thoughts ...

I second the "rambling" comment...

>Now don't misunderstand my point. I do feel that these introduced species
>have a negative impact on the well-being of native species; however they are
>not going away.

Huh? Your point was to equate starlings and house sparrows with the
white European invasion of the Americas. A bit more biology; we
white folk and them red folk are the same species, so we aren't a
"non-native species". We just treated fellow members of our species
like dirt, then bred like flies. There is no reason to suppose that
the natives of this land would not have eventually developed technology
allowing their population to explode - after all, their relatives to
the south (the Aztecs, Incas and Mayas) were well ahead of the Europeans for
centuries. The last leapfrog in technological development appears to
be the last such leapfrog - but then again, isn't that always the
case?

>By the way, a new, aggressive European immigrant is the
>zebra clam. It is apparently quite successful at pushing out native clams....

This is just a tip of the iceberg as ships are distributing various
critters around the world.

-Don Baccus-