How junior starlings might fool amateur birdwatchers
I hope we are all soaking the heat of mid-summer. This is the weather we dreamed about while living day-to-day, not so long ago, back in the cold month of February.
The warm, dry weather has been excellent for the land birds. It is encouraging to hear that people are seeing full clutches of young tree swallows emerging from backyard nest boxes. Plenty of young warblers and sparrows are being seen in the woods.
The starlings seem to be doing very well also. Most people recognize the starling as a blackish bird with a long thin yellow bill. However, the juvenile starlings emerging everywhere in their smooth, light brown plumage fool people every year. They have the starling shape but they look like a different species dressed up in all that brown.
The juveniles keep this plumage for about a month after leaving the nest. By late summer, they will moult their body feathers and grow a new set of feathers, making them look identical to the adults.
In the accompanying photograph, the bird on the right is starting to replace its juvenile plumage with the dark, white-tipped feathers. The brown bird on the left is still in full juvenile brown plumage.
The young starlings are particularly rambunctious as they follow their parents about growling for food. The calls of a young starling are gruff and unfriendly to the human ear, but it works on the parent starlings that keep on feeding the demanding squabs.
Starlings are king of the lawns. They march over the grass, probing into the soil, seeking out all manner of grubs and insect life. Much of what they eat is harmful to lawns, especially the infamous leather jacket.
The starlings in my backyard are in the tall maple trees checking out rolled-up leaves where they know a certain type of caterpillars is hiding. The caterpillars hide by day and come out at night to eat the maple leaves. They cannot escape from the starlings meticulously checking every leave and gobbling down every caterpillar pest they can find or feed the small pack of squawking young trailing close behind.
For this, the starling should be considered a friend of mankind, though most of us would rather the European starling was never brought over from Europe to North America back in 1890. Starlings are aggressive around bird feeders and compete with native North American birds for nesting holes in trees.
Over the next couple of weeks, the young starlings will learn to feed themselves. The young and adult starlings will gather into large swirling flocks and do what they do best, march across our lawns probing for insect pests.
THAT DARN SEA EAGLE
The Steller’s sea eagle has resurfaced again. This time it was near Trinity. Participants on the Trinity Eco-tours started reporting it. News reached the birding community more as rumours than something factual. Eventually, on July 20, a photograph appeared and the Newfoundland birders acted quickly. The very next morning, eight Newfoundland birders were on the first tour boat of the day. Thankfully, we were able to dedicate the entire threehour Trinity Eco-tour trip to searching for the sea eagle.
The spectacular rugged sea cliffs interspersed with small gravel beaches was an eagle paradise. We counted an incredible 132 bald eagles!
Eagles congregate in this area during the capelin spawning season. Eight pairs of eager eyes did not spot the Steller’s sea eagle. The distinctive eagle, with a massive orange bill, brown head but large snow-white tail and white shoulders is not easily overlooked. We are back to square one waiting for the next sighting of the spectacular Steller’s sea eagle.
THE AVIAN FLU
As you have heard on the news, large numbers of seabirds are dying from the avian influenza virus H5NI in Atlantic Canada. So far, it is affecting the seabirds that nest close together in large concentrations.
Northern gannets at Cape St. Mary’s are being hit hard.
Common murres at Cape St Mary’s and the Witless Bay seabird island are also being hit hard. Some puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes and a few gulls are also dying.
At this point, we do not know how far this will go. It has the potential to spread fast among the seabirds.
If you come across sick or dead birds along coastline, leave it alone. Do not touch and keep pets away. This strain of H5N1 is probably not capable of spreading to warm-blooded creatures like ourselves and our pets, but it is best to play it safe.
Sit back and witness nature in one of its darkest moments. Hopefully, the majority of birds will survive until midaugust when they naturally disperse out to sea away from the nesting colonies.