Thursday 9 May 2013

Starling Suppertime!

Spring is definitely here now - despite the fact that it's really rather cold today!  We have had sunshine. The blossoms are out, the spring flowers are blooming. 

Our garden is full of birds.  We even have a family of blackbirds, who have all fledged and spend their days following their harrassed parents, begging them for food.  The blue-tits are nesting in the nest-box on our acacia tree - I think their babies will soon be out of the nest too.

And these guys:
 
Starlings having supper
 
Dave put out some mealworms last night, on the bird table and on the step.  We immediately had a large group of starlings descend on the garden, filling their beaks as fast as possible. 
 
I do like starlings - they are so funny and squabbly and friendly.  Their legs are attached in a funny way, which makes them stalk along in a most comical fashion.  They have gorgeous shimmery feathers.  They are so clever and each one invents its own song. They're clever mimics and some of their songs are a really complicated series of phrases, including whistles & squeaks, chirps, warbles, clicks and even imitations of machinery, cars, motorbikes, telephones, people and other creatures. 
 
It's very rewarding, to feed the birds - especially when we get treated to a Starling Supper Party!
 

3 comments:

  1. We don't get starlings here - had a sparrow this week which was exciting :)

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  2. For some reason, there are not many sparrows about this year. I think it may have been down to the awful weather last summer & then the freezing, long winter. Perhaps they suffered more than most, for some reason... But, we've seen a couple of male sparrows, busily gathering food, which makes us hope they have nests & wives to look after.
    Lots of birdies in our garden - you should see them all, it's great! Try looking for "garden" in my blog search thingy - there are a few posts about the birds, if you're interested. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love bird song. My favorite bird is the redwinged black bird.
    Rinda

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