GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : DoubleDiamond April 27, 2010, 01:21:47 PM
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Well, I was doing some work out in the yard the other day, and I noticed a pair of Starlings building a nest in my son's basketball stand pipe. I figured that I would climb up and dig the nest material out of the pipe and plug it with something to deter the little buggers. Immediately upon approaching the basketball stand, I was dive-bombed by one of the brazen little birds. I thought, "you've got to be kidding me, this little *_*_*_*_*_* has got a lot of nerve" He swooped at me again, and my attention was drawn to his mate, who is now perched on the roof of my nearby hay barn screeching at me. Who would have thought that these little birds would be so territorial? Well, I was a little bit put off by the display of reckless behavior on their part and hurried into the house to retrieve the pellet gun and some pellets. As I exited the basement door, I noticed they wasted no time getting right back to work carrying weeds and twigs back to the nest site, so I holed up in the hay barn and waited for a clear shot. I have a clear site of the pipe from there and noticed that they pop out of the top of the pipe and stand on the rim for a second before taking flight. Within 5 minutes, I had two dead yellow beaks on the ground and a feeling of gratification that I had taught these two the ultimate lesson in "Territory". As I placed the two birds into a wheelbarrow of lawn clippings, I heard the familiar "Caaw....Caaw" of a collared dove as he landed in my pine tree, I let him have it just for good measure. I placed the three birds into the wheelbarrow and snapped this picture......enjoy.
(http://../photos/get-photo.asp?photoid=2930)
T
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Nice shooting and picture!
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Great shooting Brian, and thanks for the help with the re assembly of the Big Cat tonight. I haven't had a crack at a Starling in over a month now.
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Save that Dove breast!!! Toss the starlings in the garbage! Funny story,......Swooping starlings,..... thats too much!! Mocking birds do it around here and terrorize the neighborhood cats. Great entertainment and cheap too!! tjk
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Good shooting.
Yeah, that sounds just like mocking bird behavior !!
There are a pair of Starlings that seem to only be playing at building a nest in a neighbor's porch roof. They bring in nest material, but sometimes one brings it back out and drops it on the roof. The other will come right out and bring it back in. They work for a few hours in the morning, then they are gone for the rest of the day and sometimes don't come back for several days. This pattern has been going on at that nest site for over a month now. Weird !!!
They are either the dumbest birds, or one of them may be running a nest building school ??? :D
Paul
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Thats a great pose. Good shooting.
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Great shooting and pic Brian, good eating too. Ed
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Great shooting!!! This time of the year the starlings seem "dumb" and not scared.
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Good shots at those Starlings and Dove. What airgun and pellets did you use?
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The gun was the ole reliable Beeman S1 .177 cal. and the pellets were Crow Magnums. I guess I could have included the gun in the pictures.....the gun is just kind of an old beater, not much to brag about, but I like it and it shoots o.k.
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Always more fun to shoot something that is in need of it!
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great shooting!
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The satisfaction.