Starlings

[Duke of York]

We have just had our influx of baby starlings trying to eat us out of house and home and museli, fatballs etc

It is not hard to tell when they arrive as the baby ones make a complete racket demanding food off their mum and dad. Although some seem that desperate to be fed that they are willing to ask any starling that comes near

We had three on a museli dish near the back of our house all asking to be fed this afternoon. Eventually when no food was forthcoming two actually started to feed themselves, but the last one was having no of this 'feed yourself' lark and just carried on calling whilst actually standing in the dish

Anyway I did manage to capture another youngster being fed







I was quite pleased with the shots if only that blade of grass wasn't directly in the way
Maybe I can photoshop it out

[Vixen]

I was going to post about the Starlings in our garden.
they eat so much.

I don't mind I love watching them as they are funny and friendly I can stand or sit close to the back garden feeders without them caring as long as I stay still. They been coming with there young since the 15th, the juv's are so funny, food right in front of them and still screaming to be fed. The most I have counted is 8, though there could be more.

the only thing that worry's me is they scare off the other birds, the Sparrows are fine as they use the hanging feeders on the tree out the front well out of the way of the starlings, and the Colored Doves are happy to come and eat out the front to. But I only see Blue Tits or Great Tits come down for a look and have'nt stayed long.

I can't see my back garden feeders from the house (seperate garden) so could they be coming down with out me seeing, the hanging feeders out the back have'nt been touched.

[Madelinew]

I love the pics Duke of York.

I've been watching my babies with interest. The parents appear to actually show them what to do and then stand back to let their youngsters have a go. An example. Adult was bathing in the outlet to my pond. It got out and stood to one side. Baby got in and just sat there. Parent had another go and baby repeated the exercise. Really didn't seem to grasp this bathing lark but perhaps it's the equivalent of a teenager in bird years.

I had to rescue another from the trampoline - they really are a bit lacking in skills at this age bless em! One had flown onto the trampoline in the garden. Said trampoline is surrounded by a net and the baby starling couldn't get that if it just flew another foot higher, it could get out.

I do think the word 'gregarious' was invented for this bird but 'slow on the uptake' is more fitting at the moment.

[kshotton45]

We have a small window feeder, it's only about 4 inches wide yet we often have four young starlings at a time perched precariously on it. They 'jab' at each other in an attempt to be 'king of the feeder'. We keep a bird feeding area in the garden, but for some reason they prefer the challenge of the window feeder !

[g1ggles]

We have a meal worm feeder in a cage to stop the starlings getting in but a few have worked out how to get in there. If you go out in the garden and they are in there they panic and have trouble getting out. We like watching them in the garden, They are very agile and fun to watch.We get a lot in with their young and i sit for ages watching them roaming around the grass.This is my first post on here and i think it is a brilliant site.

[Bramble]

The church up the road to us is host to a nestful every year....it is not nice to be woken at the crack of dawn with skurrrrrrrrrrr skurrrrrrrrrrrrr But the little ones are so cute. They've been rooting about in among the daisies - unfortunately I didn't get a pic but I do have one of two of them sitting patiently on our wall

[fje202]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Starlings in my garden are going through 2 kilos of sultanas daily!!
It's costing us a fortune!!

I can sympathise, we are going through three blocks of fat aday, a large bag of fruit, as well as three bags of yorkshire puddings which all the blackbirds and unfortunately the starllings love i don't even want to know how much it is costing us!

[Roxy]

Last summer we had around 30 starlings with babies on our lawn at once. The lawn was basically full of them and their babies skwarking and demanding to be fed (at the time it looked like a noisy brown carpet). All this and I had only thrown a bit of bread out on the lawn!

[cherrybee]

I also have a noisy brood of starlings.But this morning I was quite upset my daughters cat brought me a present of one of the young starlings dead of course.I didn't half shout at her.She has a bell on but obviously she was too quick for the poor thing.I will be glad when my daughter gets her own place so the cat can go.She is a sweet little thing only a few months old and I will miss her when she goes but I could have strangled her this morning. I also have Blue Tits in a nesting box and hubby and I are worried about the young when they fledge.I WILL strangle her if she harm a feather on their heads

[fulhamphil]

From 5.30am to 8pm it's starling mania it's non stop at one stage i had about a dozen fledgelings flapping in the pond however i'm not complaining as they are so entertaining and innocent, yes they are costing me about £25 a week but i don't care , there worth it. Will post some pics in the week.