Starlings

These creatures are called "European Starlings" here in the USA because they don't belong here. Oddly, we don't call House Sparrows "European House Sparrows" even though they don't belong here either. In any case - I usually only see them in the depths of winter, and even then generally only when it snows. But this pair showed up today and helped themselves to some bark butter and then vanished as quickly as they had arrived.

They have some kind of weird rules about them at The Wildlife Center - rules that I think have recently changed, but still involve something along the lines of: if one of them arrives injured, it is euthanized without making any attempt to help it, but if healthy babies arrive, we raise them and release them. Because they are "invasive" species, you see. There was one in there the other day, which surprised me because I think it was an adult - maybe a healthy adult? - and I asked about the rules. Dr. Ernesto started to explain them to me as they now are, but then something happened and we all got sidetracked and I never heard the rest of it. I'll have to ask again.

In any case, I think they're quite wonderful looking - particularly in their sparkly winter garb - and I don't mind having a few of them around from time to time. Huge gangs are another matter, but that's usually not a problem here unless we have a couple of feet of snow on the ground. And if that's the case I say "help yourself!"