A Bad Morning for Starlings
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A little bit over a year ago I put a bird feeder in the tree outside Ann's front window so that we could watch the birds that came to feed throughout the winter. I'd put one in the back yard years ago, but sitting on the unheated back porch in the winter isn't an option, and because of its distance from the house she rarely filled it in any case. Last winter we saw a great variety of birds - chickadees, finches, blue jays, juncos, nuthatches, cardinals, mourning doves, and woodpeckers. This winter hasn't been quite as interesting - fewer chickadees (for some reason those little guys always amuse me), finches, and juncos, with a rather large flock of sparrows spending the most time chowing down on the seed we'd bought.
This visit I started seeing starlings in her yard again - another bird that often amuses me, as they strut around looking for food. Today I noticed a group foraging under a tree at the end of Ann's driveway, so I reached for my camera to snap some pictures... and was very surprised when a grey bird about the size of a large pigeon appeared in the midst of the starlings, who promptly blasted away as quick as they could. The newcomer didn't stick around for long, but he did pause long enough for me to see that he was some kind of small raptor, probably a sharp-shinned hawk or cooper's hawk (what can I say, I love http://www.whatbird.com/ !) that was looking to make a meal of a starling. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready, nor did I think to check under the tree for starling feathers, so I don't know if the hawk reduced the starling population by one or not. I do know the starlings didn't come back the rest of the time I was there this morning!
JMH
