Starlings are delicious. Here in Tn., there is no closed season, and no limit. I always keep some in the freezer. They go great with steamed Kudzu. The feathers are great for tying flies, as well.
My pellet rifle is an RWS with two interchangeable barrels, a .17 cal., and a .22 cal. The .17 cal. shoots at 1200 fps, and the .22 at 1000 fps. Great for small game and some birds.
Most of the time, I hunt starlings with my Navy Arms 12 ga. Dbl. Barrel muzzleloading shotgun.
Pretty birds and a shame that they cant control there hormones better.
We have a Raincrow or Grackle problem here as well as the pigeons due to the pecan and acorns getting crushed by cars.
the cities have the poison controlers do their thing about once a year,sometime 2wice…seems dangerous for cats and dogs and even the wild foxes etc.
We have tons of starlings, it’s all Shakespere’s fault. If he hadn’t mentioned them, the artsy types wouldn’t have released them in the first place.
Here’s a chunk of a paper that I wrote for my college english class on the little bastards…
The Eurasian starling or sturnus vulgaris, as it is known by its scientific name, owes its beginnings on this continent (at least in part) to none other than the legendary playwright William Shakespeare. Shakespeare mentions the starling in the first act of his play Henry IV, wherein the character Hotspur contemplates using the starling’s superior mimicking ability to torment the king for his refusal to help free Hotspur’s brother-in-law. “Nay, I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but ‘Mortimer, ” and give it to him to keep his anger still in motion” (1.3.218-225). What does this have to do with the starling finding its way to America? Enter a group called the American Acclimatization Society and a New York resident named Eugene Schieffelin. During the late 19th century the well intentioned folks at the American Acclimatization Society got together for the purpose of modifying the wildlife of the United States by distributing desirable flora and fauna around the country, including bringing all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays to the New World. Schieffelin, acting as chairman of the Society oversaw the release of somewhere between 60-100 European Starlings into Central Park in 1891 (McGrath). The birds flourished and set off tidal wave of environmental disaster.
Native birds were not particularly well prepared for the introduction of this new form of competition for both food and breeding space (Fisher 746). Particularly hard hit were cavity nesting species like the American Bluebird and various types of woodpeckers. Bluebirds regularly find themselves being evicted by the much more aggressive starlings, which tend to either destroy the Bluebird’s eggs by rolling them out of the nest onto the ground or by simply cracking them open with their breaks and eating the contents. Worse, though, than the plight of the Bluebird is that of the Woodpecker. Woodpeckers are known as primary cavity nesters, meaning that they are the species that creates the holes in the trees to lay their eggs. Starlings will often observe the woodpecker completing a burrow, only to evict the woodpecker after it’s finished, stealing not only the woodpecker’s nesting area but also its hard work along the way (Aitken 2102). Some estimates put the reduction in Bluebird populations to be as much as 90% of their historic levels. These dramatic reductions are due at least in part to the aggressive nest raiding activities of the Starling. What difference does the loss of one bird for another make to the average person? Eastern Bluebirds are one of nature’s most effective predators of flying insects, including the mosquito. However, reducing predators isn’t the only way that Starlings have effected the pest population.
Flocks of starlings prove themselves to be a pest in their own right. From property damage caused by droppings under roosting trees to their raucous cries disrupting neighborhoods Starlings are themselves a pest. Add in the dangers that these birds pose to aircraft and starlings can be considered a first class menace.
A prime example of the dangers that birds can pose is the tale of US Airways Flight 1549. On January 15, 2009 Flight 1549 suffered a bird strike shortly after takeoff, causing the plane to lose power to both of its engines, forcing the captain to perform an emergency landing into the icy waters of the Hudson River. While the birds that Flight 1549 encountered were thought to have been geese, this still provides a prime example of how dangerous bird populations can be to commercial aircraft. The FAA estimates that bird strikes cause over 600 million dollars a year in damage to commercial and military aircraft, with as many as 2,100 strikes being attributed to starlings over the past 19 years (Casto). Despite their small size, Starlings are particularly dangerous because they travel in large flocks, and have a much higher body density than other birds, as much as 27% higher than herring gulls. This earns the starling the moniker of “flying bullets” among aviation experts.
Large flocks of starlings can also damage property due to their feces. When starlings are in their flocking mode, as many 100,000 can gather into areas as small as a city block. This dense buildup of birds causes an even denser buildup of feces. These feces contain high amounts of the corrosive chemical, uric acid. Uric acid eats through masonry, corrodes metal, and damages concrete (Paulik). These large amounts of bird feces are also sources for many bird borne diseases.
Bird borne diseases include the flu, west Nile virus, and various fungal infections just to name a few (Smith). While direct transmission is rare, birds do serve as a reservoir for various diseases, holding it until another method of transmission comes along. For instance, starlings have a fairly long infectious period for diseases such as the West Nile virus. West Nile, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, is not always fatal to starlings and they can live with the illness for as long as 3 weeks (Rappole). This is a much longer term than the lifespan of the average mosquito, allowing the disease to carry over from season to season, as well as moving the disease in and out of cooler climates during the bird’s annual migrations. The flu, also know as the avian flu is also spread by populations of starlings. However, the flu is shed both orally and fecally by the birds (Boon). This makes the birds very dangerous to humans especially when large populations are allowed to gather. Large flocks of starlings also pose problems for agricultural operations.
There are several ways that starlings negatively impact agricultural operations. First, large flocks of starlings can damage fruit trees by roosting in them in large numbers. The combined weight of thousands of birds can break limbs and tear off the tiny buds from which the fruit crop grows. Second, starlings have been shown to consume a broad variety of produce including cherries, apples, peaches, figs, grapes, strawberries, and blueberries. Also at risk are crops like corn, winter wheat, and milo (Glahn). Third, mobs of starlings can consume tons of livestock feed from animal feedlots every year. According to the USDA Wildlife Services National Wildlife Research Center a single 3 ounce starling can consume over 1 ounce of livestock feed per day. Viewed as single birds, the economic impact of this consumption seems minimal, but when large overwintering flocks are taken into account the story changes. At one once per bird a million strong flock of starlings might consume 27,500 tons of livestock feed during the winter months alone (Paulik). With the U.S. population of starlings estimated at over 140 million, it’s easy to see how these seemingly insignificant birds have a huge impact on commercial agriculture operations. (Glahn)
My son just gave me one of these for Christmas. Big yard. Lots of squir’ls…(G)
I put a good scope on her. Great little gun! Accurate!!
Uncle Jesse, the kudzu is a lovely thought, but I dobt that it would thrive in Scotland the way it does in the SE US. I did see a picture of some lush poison ivy that somebody had intentionally planted in a formal garden over in England. <shaking head>
<Ed note> Now we need to find out two things. First, was Donald pulling out legs. Second, what is his mailing address. (Optional third, does he also want gray squirrel & grackle skins.)
Ed
[b]No you don’t Ed. I just checked out the grackle on Wikipedia and it looks like an other damned pest,
and we’ve got more than enough of those grey squirrels.
I’ve checked my material stock and i’ve got enough for a wee while.
If I need any I shall contact Jim Slattery, he sells them at a reasonable price.
I shall have to experiment with marker pens and make my own substitute blackbird.
[/b]
Donald,
You’d better hurry, I just made my preseason order with Jim Slattery and ordered a couple of Starling skins to go along with the other goodies. If all the folks who see me tie at the shows go out and buy a starling skin, maybe we can decrease the population here in the US as well.
REE
REE, can i get Jim’s website info?
This used to be an easy issue in America. Every kid ages 9 and up had a BB gun and learned to shoot chasing starlings, blackbirds, and any other bird that Mom & Dad deemed as legal quarry. But nowadays?
I am in total agreement with this statement!
You’re welcome to come to North Carolina and harvest them all!!
[b]A wee present from bonnie Scotland.
Donald,
I wasn’t going to send you the whole grackle, just some skins. Right now I have to figure out a way around a local ban on shooting BB guns. When I get past that point, I should be able to get after grackles again. The neck feathers have an iridescent purple sheen. I wonder how the postal laddies would respond to a box of dried grackle skins.
Ed
Donald,
Our Montana Fish-In is being held at Jim’s place on the Madison this July. I imagine Jim will be holding court at least once on tying the wee spiders and flymphs for us.
REE
Donald,
Panman was good enough to point out to me that boat-tailed grackles are now protected. For years they were specifically listed as pest birds in Tennessee. I still think that they are pests, but I won’t be ridding myself of them without a permit.
Ed
Don’t panic Donald,
As long as there is an ebay, there will be Starling skins out there.