Since I've just received four replies, (and I've also freed the bird) I want
to thank everyone who responded so quickly. While I was waiting for advice
to come in, I managed to find a website
(http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/ralph/psw_2005_ralph002.pdf) that
describes a method for freeing birds from mist nets, and I used the picture
it provided to figure out how to grasp the starling. I had also meanwhile
gotten a sharper pair of scissors, which cut the mesh very quickly.



What I found interesting was that, while the bird fluttered and squawked
most fiercely, once I got really close to it, it did seem to calm down (to
the point where I wasn't even sure it was still alive, except its head and
eye moved slightly. I had put on a pair of very flexible gardening gloves
and grasped it with my palm over its back and the neck between my index and
middle fingers, then had to carry it over into the light so I could see to
free it.



The problem seemed to be the way I had tied the mesh bag together using the
plastic twine that had formed a bow on the original seed wreath. Somehow
the bird had gotten its foot inside the knot.



It did seem to be the case (as the instructions pointed out) that the foot
relaxed itself eventually and it was relatively easy to free it at that
point. I set it in a small pine tree and it didn't move, so I took it over
to my deck to set it on a chair where it could rest until it was ready to
move on (I hadn't had the benefit of anyone's advice yet, so I didn't know
about keeping it in a dark box, as one person advised). Once I set it down,
it flew away almost instantly.



Between the (unknown) length of time that it was flapping around trying to
free itself, and the stress of my various attempts to help it before I was
finally successful, I don't know whether it will really survive the night,
but at least I've done my best.



Thanks all,

Barb Miller