Starlings

Has anyone else noticed an increase in these pesky birds this year? They are absolutely swarming my feeders even though they have to do a fly-by to grab a bite. Their favorite nesting spot this year appears to be in the barn directly above my car - every morning I am greeted with white splotches and torn up insulation all over the top of my car. Wish they'd just fly back to Europe where they belong.

Luckily, no probs here. I worry someday they will discover my blueberries.

Not here, although there are more crows in the last couple of years than usual. I chalk it up to the deaths we've had in the neighborhood - in 5 families, we've lost 8 parents.

I once had a wildlife biology teacher who said that starlings would someday take over the world. This was in 1979. Apparently he knew what he was talking about. I'm afraid to say they don't congregate in my yard. So I won't say it.

I know what you mean, Pixy, about jinxing yourself. I feel the same about bindweed. Suffice it to say I have as many starlings as you have voles... keep looking over my shoulder for Alfred Hitchcock.

Ugh. Poor you. I have a lot of crows, however. Generally I do not mind them and find them amusing, but I do hate it when I see them robbing other bird's nests. I know it's a part of 'nature', but still.

Outside my work window I keep a variety of feeders - an open one with cracked corn, a tube with sunflower seed, a suet cage, and a hummingbird feeder. Keeps me entertained all year. The starling are especially fond of the suet cake, so I think I will retire that for the summer and see if my little friends will come back - these big thugs have intimidated even the chickadees.

They fly in gangs. Other birds flock. Starlings travel in gangs. I would retire the suet, definitely.
It's hard to intimidate a chickadee. The ones in my yard think they own it. Well, along with the juncos. They own part of it, too.