Dennis and Tweeters,



In my experience, European Starlings do not normally use feeders-- suet
feeders or otherwise--

or at least, it is a very minor source of food for them. The exception, at
least around Vancouver, BC, occurs when the ground is snow-covered.
Starlings spend most of their feeding time, year-round, feeding on the
ground, probing with their bills into short grass or pastures for insect
larvae, worms, etc. When the ground is snow-covered, they lose access to
their normal food source, and they start to use feeders en masse.



The same thing, may happen, to some degree, during cold snaps when the
ground is frozen for days at a time. This certainly would make it more
difficult for birds that stick their bills into the ground.



I suspect that there will be a sudden decrease in Starling presence around
Dennis`s feeders when the weather warms up, the ground thaws, and the
Starlings return to their normal feeding behaviour.



Wayne C. Weber

Delta, BC







From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
Paulson
Sent: January-24-08 2:22 PM
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] at #$%^& starlings



I often defend starlings to people who despise them, saying it's our fault
they are here, not theirs, and that's entirely true.



But today they're straining my patience. I've had this nice suet feeder
outside my window all winter, and it's bee a great source of joy, as bird
after bird feeds from it, from flocks of Bushtits to a spectacular Pileated
Woodpecker. Imagine a Townsend's Warbler on one side and a Bewick's Wren on
the other.

But today the starlings have come back into the neighborhood, and I've spent
all morning chasing them off that feeder. They are shockingly persistent,
just flying into the nearby trees when I yell, clap my hands, and/or wave
things out the window, then returning within minutes or even seconds.
They're too relaxed! As many as 10 gather, one on the suet, and it pecks so
vigorously that enough suet falls to the ground to feed the hordes below.
Flickers do the same thing, and it's great to see a wren or Varied Thrush
picking up the pieces then. But the starlings can strip a suet feeder in no
time, and I can't afford the time or money to replace it every few hours.
Also, they keep the smaller birds off it, even giving the flickers pause
when there are enough of them. I'd love to see a Pileated come in and
scatter them.



The flock finally flew away after about 15 minutes of my hassling them, but
I know they'll be back.



Now that they've returned for the spring (they are fortunately absent from
this neighborhood in winter, I may have to take the suet down. We have
another feeder in which the suet is impervious to starlings, but that's such
a metal monstrosity that I don't really want it by my window. Not much I can
do about it, as I can't spend every day running to the window 50 times, just
venting.



One interesting thing is that several times when the yard was full of
starlings, it was also full of robins, and I get the distinct feeling that
they may travel together, at least loosely.

-----

Dennis Paulson

1724 NE 98 St.

Seattle, WA 98115

206-528-1382

dennispaulson at comcast.net