The war on Starlings continues..

[only1harry]

After shoveling snow all day yesterday every time a town plow went by, and no power the day before, I was looking forward to some shooting.

We got 30" of snow but luckily my foot didn't go all the way through as it was already compacted below so I only sank about 14-15" deep  I managed to walk to the bowl and fill it up with dry cat food.  I took it out from under the table because I couldn't see it from my shooting position with all that snow around it, and placed it out in the open about 16yds from the downstairs window I shoot from.

It didn't take long for a lone Starling to come in.  It was very apprehensive and would touch the rim of the bowl quickly with its foot or beak and back off immediately.  It was some show, very entertaining actually  Finally 5min. later it jumped on the rim and I shot it with the 850 .22 using a CPHP.  It folled in the snow trying to fly and landed just about 2ft from it dead.

About 1/2hr later the rest of the flock came which was now reduced from 25-30 birds to about 8 or 9.  They were all in the bowl but 1 was standing on the rim looking out for the rest.  I targeted that one and squeezed.  It fell into the bowl on its back and expired a few secs later.  I saw the pellet hit and noticed the 850 sounded very weak.  I chronied it and it 1st shot was 453fps only!  2nd shot 441!  I replaced the 88gr CO2 cylinder and went back to watching the window.  

It didn't take long 2 more Starlings showed up and were doing fly-by's trying to catch a piece of cat food with their feet/claws!!  I am not sure if they succeeded or not.  They are not a hawk or built for that.  That's how scared they were to land in or near the bowl.  Finally they started walking around the bowl keeping their distance about 2ft from it.  Eventually 1 took the courage to climb on and as it tried to steal some food I shot it on the side and it dropped dead on the spot as the 850 was back to shooting 635-640fps with the upgraded hammer spring.

2 were broadside shots and one got it in the back.  I got paged by work and went on to do other things.  The once proud flock of Starlings  about 30 strong, has been reduced to just a mere 5-6 birds now.  I am saving them for another day

[dk1677]

Nice shooting Harry!

[TheKnot]

What no gun ,i use that same cat food harry i mix it with chicken feed pellets a deadly combo i must say nice work

[jake]

good shooting!

[shadow]

Stay after em Harry, good shooting and pic's bro. Ed

[Furseeker]

Great shooting Harry. I get cold just looking at those pictues. Keep the photos coming.

[Mryan21]

Nice shootin Harry. I dug my bait from uunder the snow and reffiled in for the morning. I also dug a 10 foot circe around the bowl, and a shooting lane to it. Hopefully after all that work i get some shooting.

[airiscool]

Nice shooting Harry. Your sure making a dent in the Starling mob !!!!

No Starlings around here today with the sleet and snow still coming down. I finally went out to check the feeders and saw at least a Crow had stopped by and eaten one of the Starlings I put out back from yesterdays shooting.

Suposed to warm up this week. Hope they'll come back.

Paul.

[only1harry]

Thanks guys.

I thought about digging around the bowl but I was tired of shoveling for 3 days and the snow was way too deep.  I just threw the bowl on top of the 30" of snow and that did the job

Paul:  I think I will leave some dead Starlings out to see if I can attract some crows.  Usually they are not too interested but with all this snow, they have to be getting desperate for food.  29 days left for crow!  I 'm glad I got 1 so far, even if it only had 1 leg, hehe.

[airiscool]

Harry,
Must be the change in the weather, because the Starlings were sure desperate here this morning.

They not only landed near the feeder and compost pile, but were also all over the driveway in front of the barn.  

I picked off one at the base of the feeder, and within only a couple of minutes the rest of the mob was right back. I watched to see and this is the first time I've seen them land on and around the feeder with a dead one still at the base of the feeder.

But, they are still very twitchy.  Less than a minute later some Squirrels scared them off.

I went out to move the dead Starling to the back of the property and realized why they were all over the driveway too. I forgot that yesterday I spread coal cinders on the icy areas. They must have thought the dark coal cinders were some giant dry cat food !!!  

Back in the house and 10 minutes later I look out and see two of my Crow buddies landing out by the stone wall. One walks over and picks up the dead starling in it's beek. As I was watching the Crow, beyond it through a gap in the brush, I see a rabbit go by. The Crow saw it too and flew off with the Starling.  My feathered clean-up crew is still at work. All the other dead Starlings and the Sparrow from the two-fer are gone also.

I even saw a Red Squirrel dashing along the branch highway, but lost where it went.

With this break in the snow, it seems all kinds of critters are out this morning to find a meal.  

Paul.

[dk1677]

Finally saw some in my area, about 3 miles from me there was a flock by the side of the road

[airiscool]

Dave,

Have you tried putting out dry cat food ?

Even though I had a bird feeder, suet cage, and a compost pile for kitchen scraps, I didn't have any Starlings coming here until I spread dry cat food out around the ground under the feeder.

Paul.

[dk1677]

No I haven't Paul, actually I am glad they don't come around LOL If I saw them closer I would  ;-)

[only1harry]

I wish I had crows coming around to eat the Starlings, but that wouldn't last long because they 'd be dead too.  I think I know why they don't around much anymore.  Because I don't leave the dead squirrels out any longer to attract them.  I 've been consuming them since the winter before.  

That whole dry cat food thing for the Starlings was my idea in '08 as was the "Ding Donger" and it spread around, hehe  We share the knowledge here and it gets put in practice very fast
 I think it's a lot easier for Starlings to eat the dry cat food 1 piece at a time, where the other stuff they have to work harder and tear into it to get a few bites off.

Curiously now, the Cardinals started eating the cat food!  They never did the last 2-3yrs I 've been putting it out!  They always went for the bird seed and never touched the cat food.  They are adapting too.  They are seeing all the other birds eat it so they figure they had to try it.  I watched them yesterday, a male and a female sit on the rim of the bowl rim for 5min. looking at the cat food, inspecting it, thinking about it, and finally one of them took a piece and ate it, and then the other one followed.  I was like NO, not you too!  Then 5min. later they came back and settle inside the bowl and ate about 1/4lb of it!  Now I have to buy the stuff more often, dang it