Call me chicken. I think I won't comment on most of what has been said about starlings (or
their ecological similarity to human children).

Instead, I just want to mention that Starlings and House Sparrows are legally very peculiar. They
receive zero legal protection under state law because they have been specifically exempted from
classification as "wildlife" in our state of Washington. All birds that exist in the wild in
Washington are considered "wildlife" except for the select few that are defined by law to be
"predatory birds", an interesting name for a classification that does not include a single hawk,
falcon, owl, or eagle. The only other animals that exist in the wild in Washington that receive
as little legal protection under state law are old world rats and mice and, possibly (though I
am not familiar with all of the state's legal code.... give me a couple of hundred years), feral
domestic mammals. Many non-indigenous species receive considerably more legal protection under
Washington state law.

I'll never know why some of the incredibly knowledgeable people who once contributed to Tweeters
have disappeared from my inbox but I think personal attacks may have been an instrument in the loss
of some.


Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington