Hi Jeff,
When we had our horse pastured nearby, I was often amused at her
acceptance of a juvenile starling that spent nearly as much time
between her feet (gathering bugs, I hope) as riding on her back. It
was especially interesting as this same mare had a distinct aversion
to the mourning doves that frequented her pasture. Several times I saw
her gallop towards a small group of doves with her head down and
aggressively drive them away. It was my surmise that the noise of the
doves landing & taking off annoyed her, or maybe it was their
incessant mourning calls, while the little starling was a quiet
companion whose tiny ministrations may have felt good, scratching
those hard-to-reach itchy spots. They were a cute pair. I even saw the
bird seemingly asleep on her back while she slowly grazed.

Often hard to say why critters do what they do, but it's always
interesting to speculate.
Patty Kennedy -- Gig Harbor, WA


On Jun 29, 2010, at 12:01 PM, tweeters-
request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Message: 18
> Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:04:49 -0700
> From: jeff gibson <gibsondesign at msn.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Everett Horsepeckers
> To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Message-ID: <BLU104-W29A910D3E7F7B6AD33F21C9CB0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> Cattle have their Egrets and Oxen have their Oxpeckers. Trees have
> Woodpeckers. Horses in Everett have Horsepeckers.
>
>
>
> Today while checking out fenceposts along 12th st on Smith Island
> for Eastern Kingbirds (did'nt see any) I accidently scanned several
> Horses out in the near field. I was very surprised to find them
> attended by Buffy Horsepeckers ! Actually these were really just
> plain old juvinille Starlings. Maybe because I don't hang out around
> feedlots, or typically watch livestock thru binoculars, I've never
> noticed birds on Horses before. One old gaunt white Horse had a
> Starling on the rump and another atop its head, both doinking away
> on its hide for bugs. The Horse did'nt flinch a bit. I thought maybe
> it was because the horse was so old, but nearby superbuff Horses
> also were calmly accepting of Horsepeckers. Birders maybe dont like
> Starlings (for reasonable reasons) but it looked like Horses get
> along with them just fine.
>
>
>
> Jeff
> Gibson, Everett Wa