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In the meantime, the starlings continue to play.
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| Starling | January 17, 2010 |
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While it is difficult to build up much enthusiasm for starlings, they do have a certain grace.
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The problem with starlings, an English import, is that they tend to cluster in large flocks and dominate other birds. At the same time, I have to wonder about the announced attempt to poison an enormous flock of starlings here in State College. Supposedly the poison will only affect starlings, if one can believe that. The theoretical danger of the large starling flock has to do with aircraft traffic at the local airport, but I would like to think that there is another way. The environment surely doesn't need another poison.
In the meantime, the starlings continue to play.
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| Starlings have two identities: seen individually and seen in flocks. | ||
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The above photo is taken from my sequence of a flock of starlings mobbing an immature Cooper's hawk. I also have an instance of a red-tailed hawk scattering (or reverse mobbing) a flock of starlings.
Photo note: I used the Pentax SMC 1000mm reflex lens, with the K200D and the *1st D, for the first two photos and the SMC 400-600mm reflex lens, with the *1st D, for the third photo. |