This past Monday, March 20, a couple of European starlings arrived. They do that every year, hang around my house for a couple of weeks, then move on because I don't feed them. When I used to feed birds storebought feed, these intruders would stick around all summer. Maybe I'm not a true friend of birds, because I consider starlings one of the three illegal aliens of the bird kingdom (the other two are Pigeons and House Sparrows). Their presence is disruptive to native birds, and part of the reason that you have to leave the city to see more than a few species.
I also have problems with brown-headed cowbirds. My cowbird problem is diminished though not gone, and I no longer have to worry about the starlings hanging around more than a couple of weeks. There are things you can do to improve your bird variety, and I will be talking about things that I do in this blog.
Today I'm going to make several entries, because every year I want to start tracking arrival and departure dates for birds, and every year I forget to. This year I'm going to stick to it.
I am an avid amateur photographer. Feel free to emphasize the amateur, but I do get a few good shots, and I'll be posting them here frequently. My success is less technique and more patience, and I'll be talking about that as well.
For now, I'll move on to my next entry, robins.
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