Glad you enjoyed the article as much as I did, Ed. As far as
your supposition that starlings aren't well suited to northeastern
winters, then you should get a load of the Christmas bird count
stats for Greater Boston (http://birdsource.tc.cornell.edu/cbcdata/),
particularly 1997 and 1998. I participated in the '97 count.
The average starling count for the two years was a nice round
100,000, more than double the combined total of all other
(around 120-130) species. Dumpsters, restaurants, and
feeders provide a lot of food, and chimneys provide warmth.

Boston is slightly more temperate than parts inland, of course,
but, alas, there are plenty of starlings throughout the northeast.

Jim McCoy
jfmccoy at earthlink.net
Redmond, WA



-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Newbold [mailto:newboldwildlife at netscape.net]
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2000 10:38 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Starlings in the Promised Land


Hi All,

What a great Starling post by Jim McCoy.

I?d like to add a couple things, one regards the common sight of flocks of
Starlings foraging in Northwest tidal wetlands. Is this a clue to where
Starlings were in Northern Europe when that area was still forested?

Another thing is (I know I can sound like a broken record in constantly
bringing this issue up) but in my opinion the post understated the
connection
between lawns and Starlings. I usually only see them hawking insects and
eating fruit in the late summer and fall, but I see them working lawns for
grubs with their strong protractor muscles and near-sighted vision in all
seasons. Typically a flock of Starlings will descend in our residential
area
and blitzkrieg all lawn-covered areas, and then move on. I see having a
large
lawn area as managing for Starlings, and believe the best and perhaps only
realistic way to reduce the population of Starlings is to reduce lawn. With
Starlings increasing their range southward into Latin America and eastward
into Japan at the moment, it?s possible that the American fixation on lawn,
exported, is the culprit.

Thirdly, I wonder if the Greater Seattle area might not be the Starling?s
Promised Land. Birding in Pennsylvania and Illinois last year I was struck
that Starling densities seemed much lower than in Starling-laden Western
Washington. They also don?t seem to be all that common in Europe compared
to
here (Not to mention that Starlings have declined 23% in Great Britain in
the
last 25 years, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds,
which blames pesticides.) I?m thinking that the Starling?s nonmigratory
strategy doesn?t work as well back East or even in Europe because of the
harsh
winters, but that it is perfectly suited to Seattle where grass lawns can be
lush and green even in January and snow cover rarely thwarts lawn-foraging.

P.S. 1 Bald Eagle and the Peregrine pair on the WAMU tower from the Pike
Place Market today.

Tweeter by digest, Ed Newbold Beacon Hill Seattle
newboldwildlife at netscape.net




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