Stan and Tweeters,

Welcome to the world of Starling roosts! I did a B.Sc. honours thesis
on Starling roosting behaviour at the University of B.C. in the late
1960s, and I still confess a fascination with the subject.

In the Vancouver, BC area, where I did my study, European Starlings
first appeared (as wintering birds) in the late 1940s. By the late
1950s, there was at least one winter roost of up to 15,000 birds in
large ornamental conifers. They did not begin to breed commonly in
the area until about 1960. By the late 1960s, they were the most
abundant bird in the area, both summer and winter.

When I did my study, in 1966 and 1967, Starlings in Vancouver chose
mainly two types of places for nocturnal roosting. In late summer and
fall, they roosted mainly in wooded areas, especially stands of young
red alders. In early November, when the alders lost their leaves, they
would switch to roosting under bridges or in grain terminals along the
Vancouver waterfront, and would use these until April, when the roosts
broke up and birds began nesting.

It is tough to estimate numbers of roosting Starlings with any
accuracy, but I have had a lot of practice at it. The biggest roost I
ever saw, in a long-since developed wooded area at 57th and Cambie in
Vancouver, had about 175,000 birds in October 1966 (independent counts
by 2 observers working together were 160,000 and 190,000). The biggest
winter roost, under the (since rebuilt) Cambie Street bridge, had
about 50,000 birds. The difficulties of counting are illustrated by
the fact that observers from the Vancouver Natural History Society,
counting Starlings on the Christmas Bird Count, consistently got
numbers which were about 4 times higher than I and other trained
observers were getting. On one Vancouver CBC, a total of about 254,000
Starlings was reported, which was far too high.

There is widespread agreement, however, that Starling numbers peaked
in the late 1960s in the Vancouver area, and have declined
substantially since then, although they are probably stable now. Like
many introduced species occupying a new environment, they may have
"overshot" the carrying capacity of the environment for a few years
before settling back to lower numbers. Starlings continue to be one of
the 2 or 3 most abundant birds in the Vancouver area at all times of
year, and are not likely to go away any time soon.

The impact of Starlings on native hole-nesting bird species, such as
the Purple Martins that you mentioned, was and continues to be
enormous. As well as Purple Martins, species heavily affected in the
Northwest include Lewis' Woodpecker, Western Bluebird, Mountain
Bluebird, Tree Swallow, Wood Duck, and Northern Flicker. All these
species are at current population levels much lower than 40 years ago
(in areas where they have not totally disappeared). Nestbox programs
have only partly restored some of these species. Even the introduced
Crested Myna-- like the European Starling, a hole-nester, and present
in Vancouver at least 60 years before Starlings began nesting there--
is now on the verge of disappearing from North America, largely, it
seems, because of nest-site competition with European Starlings.

The Starling's status as a pest of agriculture is also legendary, and
I won't even try to summarize it here.

Getting back to roosts-- trying to locate Starling roosts and estimate
the number of birds at roosts in western Washington, or studying the
types of habitat used for roosting, would make a good undergraduate or
graduate research topic for a young ornithologist some time.

For anyone interested in the general subject of Starlings, their
biology, economics, and impact on other bird species, I would
recommend reading "The Starling" by Chris Feare, published about 1985.
(My copy is not handy.) Dr. Feare has spent much of his career
studying Starlings in Britain, and his book is comprehensive and
fascinating.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca




-----Original Message-----
From: Stan Kostka <lynnandstan at earthlink.net>
To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, October 05, 2000 8:11 AM
Subject: starling roost


As I was driving into Everett last night I noticed clouds of birds
forming up over downtown, apparently preparing to go to roost. I
have
no experience estimating numbers of huge congregatons like this but if
I
had to make a guess I would say ten to fifteen thousand, perhaps
more. The starlings were coming into the trees by the time I parked
my
truck and walked to the scene. The limbs of the trees along the
center
of Hewitt Avenue alternately sagged and rose as large groups of the
birds came to rest on them and then took again to wing. The
sidewalks
were somewhat soiled and I took a direct hit on the shoulder before I
retreated under a storefront awning. I saw what was probably a
sharpie or coopers hawk as it flew away with a meal. The sound of the
roost was considerable even above the noise of the traffic. What I
was
not expecting was the odor. It was quite noticeable on the downwind
side. I returned to the scene later that evening about ten oclock.
They
were there, although it would be easy to miss them up in the darkness
above the lights as they were now much less noisy. I spotlighted them
as I looked through my binoculars. The branches were so covered with
birds in places it appeared as though they were sitting on top of each
other. It was an impressive phenomenon but I observed it with a sense
of loss. You see, I was in town this evening to give a presentation on
the limited recovery of purple martins that is occurring locally and
regionally as the result of nestbox installations. Had it not been
for
the unfortunate human introduction of starlings into North America one
hundred and fifty years ago, premigratory congregations of purple
martins on this scale might still be observable here as they were in
the 1940?s. .

Stan Kostka Arlington