Is anyone else being invaded by starlings? (birds, dog, Indiana)

[PJSaturn]

For the past couple of weeks, the sound has been escalating. Every time I step outside I hear thousands of starlings chatting up a storm! They're not usually in my trees, but are about a block away from my home - and I can still hear them.

Here are a couple of photos I took yesterday.





Many places in my area have been overrun by starlings lately. Are any of you experiencing this? I live in NW Indiana, about an hour SE of Chicago. I've never seen this many starlings in one place before, and these two photos are just a small sampling.

I'm just glad they're not invading my feeders.


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[TroutDude]

I've seen groups that size but usually they only stay a few days before moving on elsewhere. I've heard of huge gatherings - in the tens of thousands - but never witnessed one.

[3DogNight]

Seen one of those huge gatherings this time last winter, maybe February. Traveling to work between 6.45-7 am, on a stretch of highway in central NC and they were in the tens of thousands on the wires. The literally millions that TroutDude described had formed a black, undulating ribbon in the pink morning sky over all those starlings sitting on the wires - all the cars stopped at one of the only lights on this stretch of local highway had faces plastered to the windshields because no one could believe it.

It was just one swooping, pulsing ribbon of birds, moving in one direction, then a little hiccup in formation, but the ribbon kept going like a river. For the length of the light and then some - an endless stream of starlings.

[3DogNight]

We rarely if ever see them at our feeders - for the first time I saw a grackle at my feeder a few weeks ago.

[bjh]

I've seen large flocks of birds from time to time. They'll dissipate after a while. But if you see Alfred Hitchcock, let us know.

[PJSaturn]

Originally Posted by 3DogNight

Seen one of those huge gatherings this time last winter, maybe February. Traveling to work between 6.45-7 am, on a stretch of highway in central NC and they were in the tens of thousands on the wires. The literally millions that TroutDude described had formed a black, undulating ribbon in the pink morning sky over all those starlings sitting on the wires - all the cars stopped at one of the only lights on this stretch of local highway had faces plastered to the windshields because no one could believe it.

It was just one swooping, pulsing ribbon of birds, moving in one direction, then a little hiccup in formation, but the ribbon kept going like a river. For the length of the light and then some - an endless stream of starlings.

Totally cool! I've never seen a flock that huge, but can picture it since you described it so well. I would have loved to witness that.

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[PJSaturn]

Originally Posted by bjh

I've seen large flocks of birds from time to time. They'll dissipate after a while. But if you see Alfred Hitchcock, let us know.

I was thinking about Alfred Hitchcock as I walked near those birds on Sunday. They didn't pay me any mind, though.

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[topher5150]

I've been seen small gatherings of those birds in Mc Donald's parking lots. Between the crap the people throw out at the drive thru, and the people getting on and off the bus they have plenty to pick through. I can't remember if it was my dad or grandpa that said they would get paid for every starling they killed. They are very menacing, eating and contaminating feed, driving out native species.

[harry chickpea]

I had to scare a murmuration of them off yesterday, otherwise they would have stripped the food the other birds have been going after.

We have this jerk to thank:
Eugene Schieffelin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 1890, he released 60 starlings into New York City’s Central Park. He did the same with another 40 birds in 1891. Schieffelin wanted to introduce all the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare to North America. He may have also been trying to control the same pests that had been annoying him thirty years earlier, when he sponsored the introduction of the House Sparrow to North America.

European Starlings were not native to North America. Schieffelin imported the starlings from England. Scientists estimate that descendants from those two original released flocks now number at more than 200 million residing in the United States.

I would not be surprised if that 200 million figure is a gross underestimation.

[LauraC]

I always see huge amounts of them in the winter. I often see them feeding on the ground and wonder why they think it's better to find food in such huge numbers.