birding-aus Woodswallows and starlings

["David Geering"<>]

You could almost mistake them for Starlings in bad light.

Been there; done that! Another one for the person who was compiling a
list of easily mistaken IDs


While living in Darwin in 1989 I was birding near a wetland on the
outskirts of Darwin.  A strangely behaving woodswallow caught my eye.  Much
more wary that the other woodswallows around, this bird kept flying up and
landing on the ground further away and out of sight.  It was only after
considerable time that it dawned on the that this bird was actually a
Common Starling!  Not having seen a starling for over six months this one
threw me.  It all comes down to what you are expecting to see I suppose.

By the way the starling was later blasted out of the sky by CCNT officers.

David Geering


To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to

Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)