gwynne@milton.u.washington.edu (Kristan Geissel) (03/01/91)
In article <4033.27ccf25e@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> jahayes@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu writes: >In article <21421@teda.UUCP>, jeffy@teda.UUCP (Jeffrey Youngstrom) writes: >> Heya, >> I'm new to bird watching and to this newsgroup. >> Anyway, the bird I saw yesterday walking around in the grass >> ......was about the size of a >> large Robin and about the shape of a young chicken (minimal >> tail, and stocky), jet black chest, rich brown back and wings >> with black speckles and a bright yellow-orange beak. Legs >> were, I think, black. I leafed through my Field Guide to >> Western Birds but didn't find anything that looked likely. >> Anybody know? >> >Yep. Sounds like European Starlings to me; they can be surprisingly >beautiful in sunlight, all iridescent...but they are exotics, and >therefore difficult to find in the field guides sometimes. We had >a flock of about 100 yesterday in our backyard, hopping and waddling >like a bunch of fat old men. > >Josh Hayes, Zoology, Miami U (Ohio) Exotic Starlings? Are they that rare in the Midwest? Here at the Univ of Wash., our Physical Plant people have contest to see what the safest (no harm to starlings) and sanest (no harm to faculty, staff, students) way is to get these starlings OUT OF HERE. They have apparently poisonous droppings and when 200 to 300 of them pick a tree to call home, the ground below them becomes a hazard. They are listed in the Golden field guide, revised 1983. They can be obnoxious at times especially with their "lovely" call. I was told that an Englishman imported them because he missed their call after he moved to the states. I have been fooled by them because of their ability to mimic lots of other bird calls. Picture mid-winter, hearing a blackbird's call, being reminded of the summer at the marsh and looking, looking, looking for that blackbird and finally discovering the lone starling practicing his repretoire. They are delightful birds especially in a group because of the conversations that they enjoy having so much. Kristan gwynne@milton.u.washington.edu
dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark) (03/01/91)
In article <17382@milton.u.washington.edu> gwynne@milton.u.washington.edu (Kristan Geissel) writes: #In article <4033.27ccf25e@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu> jahayes@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu writes: [bird description deleted here] #>Yep. Sounds like European Starlings to me; they can be surprisingly #>beautiful in sunlight, all iridescent...but they are exotics, and #>therefore difficult to find in the field guides sometimes. We had #>a flock of about 100 yesterday in our backyard, hopping and waddling #>like a bunch of fat old men. #> #>Josh Hayes, Zoology, Miami U (Ohio) # #Exotic Starlings? Are they that rare in the Midwest? Here at the #Univ of Wash., our Physical Plant people have contest to see what #the safest (no harm to starlings) and sanest (no harm to faculty, #staff, students) way is to get these starlings OUT OF HERE. ... "Exotic" has a technical meaning in biology. It means pretty much the same as "introduced". "Exotic" means from somewhere else. Hence unusual, difference. Hence the everyday English meaning. David Mark dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu