On Mon, 23 Oct 1995, Susan Collicott wrote:
> Yes, it was only a "stupid starling". But it was a friend who had never before
> taken an interest in birds, and she was interested enough now to actually DO
> something about it. She's so intrigued by birds now that she wants me to take
> her out guide shopping. That one stupid starling just snagged another
> birder.

> (is that a groan I hear from Mike Smith?!)

Initially yes, but you have shown me the silver lining to this situation
in the above paragraph! I stand corrected, you have found a worthwhile
use for starlings besides raptor food! (Actually I always wanted to have
one for a pet - train it to talk). Plus if you had a pet starling, you'd
break no laws obtaining it, you'd decrease the wild population by 1 bird,
and if it ever got away, you're not introducing a new critter (in most
areas). How about it tweets, fess up - any of you ever 'had' a starling
or house sparrow? I know one who has had the latter as a pet. Hmmmm,
I'm certainly going off on a tangent, aren't I?

-------------
Michael R. Smith
Univ. of Washington, Seattle
whimbrel at u.washington.edu
http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html