During the blizzard last week, two starlings landed on my feeder. I groaned. Starlings are like gossipy 13-year-old girls. They can’t keep news to themselves. When they find a food source they fly back to the main flock and blab all about it. It took a day or two, but soon I was inundated with about 50 of the noisy, messy beasts.
Starlings are bigger than many of the other backyard birds, so when the flock is hanging out at the feeders, most of the other birds stay away. They wouldn’t be such a nuisance if they would just choose a seed and eat it, but they love to fling their food in every direction as they search for the perfect morsel. A lot of good birdseed ends up on the ground. A big flock of starlings can empty a large feeder in a day or two.
Of course the squirrels are overjoyed by the presence of these marauders. My squirrel population has quadrupled in the last couple of days.
The juncos are pretty pleased as well.
