Starlings on the Fence

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

I thought they were blackbirds. 

Even at that, we've had precious few of them lately, although they tend more to be summer birds. But we've had almost no starlings at all this year.

Normally, we see them regularly from spring through fall, and then intermittently throughout the winter, their plumage much more subdued. The plumage, though . . . that's another issue. Normally, they're in ordinary summer dress until late autumn — shades of brown and black backlit by an iridescent rainbow of colors. Several years ago, they showed up suddenly in August in winter garb: iridescence gone, speckled colors replaced by snow-white spots. The next year, it happened in July.

A small flock of them showed up at the feeder one day back in December. One day only. Most of the clan was clearly young, so I was glad to see they'd found their way here. But they departed, and this is the first I've seen of them since.

My parents hated them. "Dirty birds." "Scavengers." "Horrible birds." Of course, they said the same about ravens and crows, about magpies, about all sorts of feathered relatives. They never understood.

I blame Hitchcock and Hedren.

And now, I'm going to have that stupid song in my head for the rest of the week.

The starlings didn't come back today, but then, it's been snowing all day. By the time it's done, we'll have three or four inches, and then it will melt and leave more mud.

Of course, that brings out the tiny creatures in the dirt.

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

Maybe we'll see them again soon.


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