Un-natural - needs hunters.

[airiscool]

Just got back from four days in South Brooklyn working on my Aunts house. Built in the early 1900's, the house was my Grandmothers, then left to my Aunt. I've spent alot of time in the house since I was a little kid.  It was a very good neighborhood up until the last dozen years, or so. While there I couldn't help but notice how the neighborhood has changed. It's  gotten "Un-natural" in many ways.

 It's a yellow beak hunters paradise except that your not allowed to have a gun there. The Starlings are so "relaxed" they were buzzing my brother's and my heads while we were working on the roof. They are totally fearless and will sit in trees and on roofs only a few feet from us, chirping away.

After a couple of days of seeing how brave the Starilings are I realized ...there are no more song birds in that neighborhood- not even Sparrows anymore. Being only blooks from Jamaca Bay, the only other birds I saw were Seagulls flying high overhead. No one's taking out the Starlings so the other birds are gone.

And then there's the un-natural human part.

Everone I passed avoids eye contact and won't say hello as they pass by.

I lost count of how many I saw just dropped their trash on the sidewalk and in the street. My local dump is kept cleaner than the streets and sidewalks there !!!!!!

One morning I looked out front to see what the rumbling noise was. A City sanitation worker pulling a large wheeled garbage can sweeping up some of the trash that was out in the open. Meanwhile my 90 year old Aunt who is house bound, gets ticketed often by a "meter-maid" for not cleaning up the trash others drop on the City's sidewalk in front of her house.

So the tax payers pay to have someone come around and sweeep up part of the trash because that worker can't be bothered sweeping up all the trash, and then they pay someone else to drive around ticketing the homeowners because that City worker can't be bothered ticketing the ones who acctually dropped the trash.

Stepping out the back door and looking up the row of small back yards, it looks like everyone is having a "junk yard" competition. And, at least the houses on both sides have Pit Bulls to keep the "junkies"  from stealing all the junk pilled up in the yards !!!!

It's turned into a very strange place.

I can't help but think that alot of the "un-natural" problems there would be solved if they spent money on pellet guns, instead of on attack dogs and city workers.

Sure would be "target rich" for awhile !!!!

Paul.

[dk1677]

Too bad you can't clean the yellow breaks out! Good to see you on, I had wondered where you were!

[djmyers]

Hate to hear the old neighborhood went to crap. My parnets neighbor hood is heading in that direction. We lived there since 85 and the new crop of neighbors are not so good.

WHen it comes to the targets. Build a sniper position and sit back from the window about 6-7 ft. Nobody will hear nothing. You can sneak your gun  in in a tool bag. lol I shoot from my computer, wifes computer room who am I kidding, open the window about a foot and  a half and have my tripod set up about 6 ft back. Its quiet and very productive.

[Mebits]

After all, you're just shooting inside your house!

LOL!

[onemountain]

A lot of sad trends these days. I was in Brooklyn for only a day a couple weeks ago and I was amazed at how dirty it felt compared to Manhattan. And I noticed exactly what you mentioned- people walking down the street hurriedly, heads down, not acknowledging each other, only looking up to assess whether an oncoming pedestrian is a threat of some sort.

It's tempting to say you should hide back from a window and pick off the starlings with a quiet gun and that no one would be the wiser, but:

1) I'm not keen on recommending that someone break the law

2) I most definitely would not want to be on the receiving end of NYPD's response to someone reporting "someone shooting a sniper rifle out the window of a house"

On a mildly brighter note, this spring here in ID I've noticed that while I'm still hearing plenty of noise from starlings in the neighborhood, I'm also hearing and seeing a lot more native songbirds this year. I've also seen and heard more crows.

I've noticed the latter pairing in the past too- more crows seems to mean less starlings. I suspect that the crows have found the starling's mass nesting sites to be good food sources

[airiscool]

Eric,

"...........I suspect that the crows have found the starling's mass nesting sites to be good food sources

.............."

Not sure if that happens here. This past winter the Starlings would come in shortly after one of the two Crows, that live out back somewhere, started calling their mate in for dry cat food, or food scraps on the compost pile.

And I do know those two Crows  SURE LIKE the taste of dead Starling !!! They've taken every Starling I've left out for them. Nothing except feathers left when they're done.

Paul.

[Wade.S]

My brother lived in Portland Oregon for a while, until he came to his senses and moved out to the east of the state. While he was there and unable shoot starlings that were getting into his attic and nesting, he found that rat traps were very effective to place on the eves of his house. Just a thought.

[DougT]

That's the government hard at work for you.  They create the problems by telling you what you can do, what you can't do, when you can/can't do it, for how long, etc...  Then they try to "fix" the problem they created by making more rules and regulations.

That's why I'll never live in or near a large city.  It was great growing up stepping out the back door or opening your bedroom window and shooting out of it.  No neighbors to worry about or report you.  Another year and I'll be there again.

That would be awefully hard not to take a careful shot with a starling up against a tree trunk or something similar.

[Dust]

You need a noise maker out back.  Something unobtrusive, like the wooden water thing from Kill Bill.  Makes noise, so it will cover the sound of a pellet hitting.  The find a tree in the backyard, make sure that there is food there, and go to town.

[airiscool]

All the Starlings there are not a problem for my Aunts house - I  just mentioned it to show how  out of balance things can get when there are so many people living so close together with a "let-the-government-take-care-of-it" mentality. It's not only un-natural for us, it's un-natural for critters too.

As for backyard hunting, I'd not want to be caught with a gun down there, ....  but if I realy wanted to pop Starlings, it's easy. Just open a window and wait. About every 10 minutes there are police, or fire sirens screaming by and that would cover up the sound of just about any pellet gun.

Or, the way things are there now ... if you could somehow make the pellet gun sound like a car alarm.... it's sure to be ignored !!!!!!  

Paul.