Subject: Re: Starlings. (Was: Urban Peregrines ...)
Date: Oct 15 17:19:51 1996
From: "Ed Schulz" - eschulz at eldec.com


On Tues. 15 Oct. Stig Linander writes:

>In fact, in Denmark the starling is a very popular bird, people even
>build nest boxes for the starling. There are no starlings during the
>winter and the arrival of the starlings is a sure sign of spring:
>"Listen, the starling has come, it's whistling, so beautiful!"

>Only during fall migration, starlings are gathering into large flocks.
>Especially in some areas in Southern Jutland, close to the German
>border, flocks of several hundred thousand birds can be seen. I haven't
>seen it myself, but it should be a most spectacular experience.

>I joined the ELWAS field trip to Montlake Fill Sep. 21st. We saw some
>cormorants and I heard a joyful voice: "Hey, the cormorants are back!"
>In Denmark many people just HATE cormorants. There are so many and they
>are so dominating!

>So, which birds are popular and which birds are not-so-popular obviously
>depends on their abundancy.

Stig,

Welcome to the US and the Pacific Northwest. Your post reminds me of an
evening a couple weeks ago, I was on Spencer Island with a friend as the
sun was about to go down. Starlings were flocking in enourmous numbers
and flying all around in every direction. Even though they are not our
favorite bird it was impossible to not be impressed by the numbers and
their energetic flying.

Ed Schulz
Everett, WA
eschulz at eldec.com