The flock of starlings just keeps getting bigger, and its giving me fits. I’m tempted to keep the window shades down during the day so I don’t have to watch the dollar signs getting swallowed or flung carelessly to the ground.
And their presence seems to have encouraged many other seedy characters like crows and House Sparrows. I’m under siege.
Recently the starlings emptied the hopper feeders for the third time in a week. I hope they enjoyed their dining experience because I’m not refilling the feeders. I even took down the hanging feeders for a few days to encourage them to find another sucker, but the sight of all those confused chickadees and nuthatches was too much for me and I soon hung them back up.
Starlings are so big that they have a much harder time getting food from the peanut feeders and other hanging feeders, so it will take awhile before those, too, are emptied. When that happens I don’t know what I’ll do. Birdwatching is my favorite winter activity, and for the last three years now the starlings have all but ruined the fun. The Pine Siskins are still putting away the Nyger seed at an alarming rate, but at least they are cute and polite about it.
So far the starlings have been back every day hoping more food will materialize. Even if they finally disappear for a few days I know I will have to be firm and stand my ground because all it takes is one to fly over the house and see a full feeder and the whole nightmare will start all over again.