Over the last couple of weeks, as the weather starts to get
colder and the daylight hours shorter (in other words Winter 's on its way!), I've noticed that the Starlings that have been visiting my garden feeders in ones and twos
have now started to band together into ever larger flocks or, in the case of my
feeders, raiding parties!
Now, the general idea is that they flock together for safety
and warmth while roosting for the night. But being the best of friends and snuggling
up cosy and warm during the night may be one thing during the day while
searching for food and even taking a bath it's a different matter altogether...it's
everyone for his/her self!
A couple of days ago I was fortunate to have the video
camera to hand when one of these raiding parties descended onto my garden and
feeders. It was around 3.30 in the
afternoon on a dark and gloomy day so not the best of light but it does show
how manic and frenzied the life of a Starling is!
Unfortunately, as I was shooting the video through closed
patio doors, the sound of the squabbling
and bickering is not very clear but if you turn up the sound on your
computer you can just about make it out over the sound of the camera. Also I've not edited the video, it's real time
as it happened, so is quite long!
Before the video here are a few images taken on the same day
and again taken through the patio window.
