As soon as I decided to create this post I prepared myself for comments from some of my regular readers who will say "this species is a pest" on account of its abundance, rowdiness and tendancy to devour any food with incredible speed. Well, I like watching Sternus vulgaris; they are inquisitive; males often have a large reportoire of 20-70 different calls; they also have a remakable ability to accurately mimic not just other species but also various other environmental noises......mobile phone ringing tones, car alarms etc.,
.....and this individual provided an opportunity for some eye to eye contact while I was eating an ice cream!
Even the youngsters can be quite talkative.........FAB
I made some comment about the starlings earlier in the year, and was told, "Starlings are birds, too." These are great shots, esp. that second one. I think he wanted to taste your ice cream!! ~karen
ReplyDeleteAs soon as "pests" become rare, they are generally no longer considered pests. ;) I like your titles.
ReplyDeleteFrank, I happen to like them as well, they are quite entertaining and also friendly enough to hang out a bit. Your captions along with the images are both perfect together.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. One friend died from not using a seatbelt, even though he owned an insurance company, and knew better. Another was trying to remove harness from his horse, it reared up and kicked him in the head. The other was a heart attack. Any day a dear friend shall pass over from cancer, it is quite heart wrenching times for me~
Nice shots. I'm very fond of starlings. :-)
ReplyDeletecheers,
Wilma
may be can use this bird for alarm security in my house. Lets save the environment. thanks for share
ReplyDeleteHaha! Those first two shots are priceless...the second being my favorite!
ReplyDeleteHa I like this post a lot... I end up watching the starlings quite a bit for lack of much other activity on my suet feeder. They are loud and piggish for sure, but still make some great faces!
ReplyDeleteThey are some characters Frank and quite photogenic.
ReplyDeleteI love them Frank. I think they are amongst the greatest characters of the bird world.
ReplyDeleteThe first two shots, and especially the second are priceless!
No such comments from me Frank. Starlings are cool! Nice photo's again.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics, Frank! Just looking at their inquisitive and bold expressions you know why they have been so successful.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you 100%! I know they can be raucous at the bird table, but the are such characters and as you say, the sounds they come out with can be amazing. I really like them en mass in the winter with that lovely cacophony of sound they make together and of course when they're coming in to roost on the Somerset levels in their thousands! Amazing birds!
ReplyDeleteNice photos, Frank.
ReplyDeleteVery nice images especially like the second photo.
ReplyDeleteExcellent Frank!! Looks like it spotted you too. Lucky it did not have a camera ;-)
ReplyDeleteVery nice shots Frank! I'm still in Alaska visiting my daughter and son-in-law, so I'm a little behind on commenting.
ReplyDeleteI adore starlings, they are so funny and - to me at least - quite beautiful :). We are quite lucky to have a good few where I live although they haven't bred as well this year as they did last year and I wonder if it's down to the exceptionally harsh winter we had.
ReplyDeleteThe second shot is a real cracker, Frank. Yes they can be a nuisance but very entertaining at the same time.
ReplyDeleteHi Frank....I love to watch the starlings, they often bully the other birds, but are great entertainment.
ReplyDeleteSadly I am seeing less and less of them here. There numbers seem to be dropping......
Hi Frank, Over here they are a pest! They are slowly but surely spreading from the cities into the country, and displacing native species as they go. Of course, it's not their fault, We brought them here to make Australia seem more like home.......Oh boy!! What were we thinking..........
ReplyDeleteHi everyone....the debate as to 'pest' or otherwise will no doubt go on for a long time...in this instance the encounter was a just bit a fun....FAB.
ReplyDelete(smiling) that one sure looks cool. :)
ReplyDelete