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Common Starlings

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Subject: Common Starlings
From: "Ron" <>
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 20:55:36 +1000
Hi all,
Recent postings on Starlings reminds me of generations of worthy 
Glaswegian councillors who spent entire political careers planing and 
implementing increasingly futile campaigns to remove the little 
darlings and their unfortunate by product from the ledges and window 
sills of Glasgow's fine heritage of Victorian buildings. Its been a few 
years since I used to peer out of my office window in the depths of a 
gloomy winters evening trying to locate the source of the clamour as 
thousands of the little blighters returned to the city centre 
presumably to take advantage of what little heat could be obtained 
from the myriad of street lights and neon signs. 
Here in Brisbane I have been coming across the odd pair of them, 
always it seems in the vicinity of overhead traffic lights. Would 
this be a classic example of Darwinian principals in that they are 
successfully exploiting an area / nesting site ignored by the natives 
or is it just possible that the birds in question are descendants of 
Glaswegian immigrants, programmed  to head for any source of heat to 
combat miserable winters nights
.
Seriously, the starlings noted are  almost always 
seen around traffic lights or street lighting at traffic junctions. 
Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject.

Not a major worry or so I would have believed until I made a long 
overdue trip to Fisherman's Island in Brisbane recently. 
I had stopped to look at a large pond with a huge number of Black 
Winged Stilts and to try and identify some terns sharing the shallow 
pond. All clean cut and healthy looking with pelicans and black ducks 
overhead and even the delight of a pair of mistletoe bird birds down at 
near eye,level instead of being up in the gods. All was well with the 
world but as I stood there a familiar 
but almost forgotten chatter came from the sewerage installation on 
the other side of the road. Shades of Hitchcock, there were hundreds of the 
scabby little 
disasters milling around the tanks and at one time over six hundred 
of them settled on the overhead lines.
Would there be any point in contacting Glasgow town council for 
advice( I'm sure they are still in the business of coming up with 
sure fire remedial solutions ) or would this be a job for Pauline.
Ron Hughes 
Brisbane +1000
Queensland, Australia

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