Wayne,

Canadian starlings must be different from American starlings! You may
be right about winter-time use, but in the summer, especially after
their young fledge but also before that, starlings are at our suet
feeders every day for months. They make it impossible to put out open
suet feeders, unless you're ready to replace them constantly. They
also spend many minutes trying to defeat the starling-proof feeder,
even hanging under it like woodpeckers and trying to get to the suet
in the middle compartment, but they're just not as agile and/or long-
necked as the flickers that can reach it.

As I wrote, we mostly don't have starlings in our wooded neighborhood
in the winter, as they are much more attracted to open country when
they're not breeding. But they are here in the summer to take
advantage of all the nest sites that urban habitats provide. I
suspect the large flocks of starlings and robins I've seen this week
are a response to the intense cold, probably moving around the
countryside to find new sources of food.

Dennis

On Jan 25, 2008, at 6:00 AM, Wayne Weber wrote:

> 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
>

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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