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The other evening down Tesco's car park loads of starlings were on top of the big lights calling to each other to join. When do they leave thought they would have gone by now none at home?

They are such comical birds.  I was watching a bundle of them in my garden over the weekend.  They actually managed to wedge themselves into my hanging bird table even though I had spread food all over the place which was far easier to access!

Oops, doesn't answer your question, sorry  :-[

They could well have been roosting on the building; they're attracted by warm places to sleep. There used to be millions (literally) roosting in the centre of Birmingham till they netted the buildings to keep birds off.

Haven't seen a starling in the garden for several months.  Rather than flying away, I think they will be coming back into the garden.  Usually we have loads of them in the garden in winter, and until latish spring when the young have fledged.  Then they disappear, but come back for winter.

They really are comical.  They squabble over food, and stonk about the garden like bovver boys.  When you see one in full sunlight, the colours are beautiful.

We seem to be bucking the trend insofar as we get a lot in the garden in spring, and also a lot of young.

valmarg

The ones in my garden never go, they live in the eaves of my house and make a continous racket all year. Last weekend we were startled to see about 40 starlings swooping around in a big flock together....like the Hitchcock film.
The ones in the local tesco carpark can imitate the sound of cars unlocking by remote control, they can do different ones. It's very strange.

I thought they migrated I can understand the young ones staying ?

Starlings do not migrate Teresa, it is at this time of year they all get together and at dusk gather in huge flocks before going to roost.  It is quite a sight to see enormous flocks of starlings swooping and diving.  I remember the sight of them flocking at the Forth Road Bridge.  I could hardly keep my eyes on the road for watching them.  They would have roosted there for the night.  ;D ;D ;D  Sadly the numbers of starlings is nowhere like they were and I haven't seen this specticle in a long time.

Useless factoid:

The collective noun for a flock a starlings is a murmuration.

I've seen a few small flocks swooping about, and they still hanging around the Morrison's car park like a bunch of teenagers with nowhere to go. The fledglings used to sit on the shopping trolleys as you put your pound in â€" quite fearless, singing away completely oblivious to the shoppers!

They're great mimics - we had an outdoor telephone bell and many was the time we ran indoors to answer a call only to realise it was the starlings having fun.

Quote from: Carol on November 16, 2006, 13:35:43
Starlings do not migrate Teresa, it is at this time of year they all get together and at dusk gather in huge flocks before going to roost.  It is quite a sight to see enormous flocks of starlings swooping and diving.  I remember the sight of them flocking at the Forth Road Bridge.  I could hardly keep my eyes on the road for watching them.  They would have roosted there for the night.  ;D ;D ;D  Sadly the numbers of starlings is nowhere like they were and I haven't seen this specticle in a long time.

Starlings do migrate - ones from Northern Europe tend to oveiwinter here whereas some (but not all) of ours migrate to southern Europe.  On the whole we make a net winter gain which is why we get bigger flocks in the winter.

PS - saw a lot more babies this year so hopefully there numbers are increasing again - round us anyway.

Hundred and hundred round here. At first I really didn't like them but when I look out the kitchen window and see as many as 20 squabbling in the garden I must admit they have grown on me. They squabble so much, the sparrows,  greenfinches, and collared doves don't seem to notice them and just get on with their eating.
Lorna

I agree with redclanger I have seen far more this year.
I took this photo a couple of weeks ago, before the clock change, and I am still seeing them swoop around.http


http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=weather001aa5.jpg

we call them spivs. I like it when they all try to get in the bird bath together

ray's mum calls them shebbies, no idea why  :)

saw a great advert on TV last night (for Carling Black Label I think but my beer knowledge isn't that good, more of a cider girl!) that's made of the amazing footage of thousands of starlings swooping and roosting from a Bill Oddie programme. simply stunning!

I LOVE starlings! And Valmarg ... they ARE like bovver boys aren't they  ;D Someone ought to make them some little bird-sized Doc Martens to strut about in  ;D

I've only seen a few here in Nottingham over the past few years, but when I was a kid in Sheffield (many many many moons ago) they lived in the eaves of the house over my bedroom.

Dad, in his infinite wisdom, decided to block off the holes into the eaves using my old Beano and Dandy comics.

"WOHOO" (said the starlings) "Nice comics to shred up to line our nests and we can follow the antics of Corky The Cat and read the jokes pages at the same time!"

Instead of hearing them 'scrabbling about' in the roof at night, for the first few weeks I heard them tittering and calling to one another ... "Ere! Stan! Corky's pulled a classic gag in Edition 209! Take a look!"

Oh .. and another thing .... me dear old dad used to set up 'starling traps' on the lawn. A cardboard box propped up on its end using a stick. There was a piece of string attached to the stick which went across the lawn and was held by yours truly sat on the back step.

A strategically placed piece of bread under the box was the 'starling bait'. As soon as I saw one I had to pull the string, dislodge the stick and (supposedly) catch the starling in the box.

Hours and hours and hours I sat on that bl**dy step  ::) Not a starling to be seen.

brilliant stories, I can just see the starlings laughing at desperate dan and dennis the menace !!   :) :)

You think you can see them Manic ... I HEARD them  ;D