We adore the cute little birds that live in the trees and bushes around our home in Austin, Texas. The problem is I’ve never quite known what they are! I found a picture of them when I happened to read about the Balcones Songbird Festival in Texas. (It’s the picture of four birds–three ladies and a gentlemen. The article seems to rotate the picture at the top. Here is a more direct tiny pic link.)
I worry for them during this time of year. We have had some deaths in past years that seem to coincide with the arrival of another particular bird. These birds are medium-sized, compact, and black with bright yellow beaks. I’ve guessed they are starlings, but can not confirm this. I can’t even find a suitable picture to post. It’s driving me crazy!
I’d love any speculations/information anyone can share about our little guys and their nasty neighbors. We’d love to be better stewards of our local wildlife.
I agree that your “cute” birds are house sparrows, and your other late-arriving birds are starlings. Starlings love to steal nests, even from owls, so it is possible you’re right, that the starlings’ arrival is bad news for sparrows.
Fascinating fact: both birds are non-native to the US, and both were introduced here by one guy, Eugene Schieffelin. Both are very, very common, and both compete with native birds for resources such that native bird populations decline (that is, they’re considered invasive species).
When we lived in Austin, one year there was a woodpecker pair nesting in the tree in our front yard. Starlings harassed and harassed them, finally chasing them out, and moved in. A few weeks later, though, a great big ol’ Texas rat snake shimmied up the tree and ate all the starlings’ eggs, with the starlings helpless to do anything but complain about it – several neighbors came over to watch. We all cheered for the snake.
Well, common and cute still works for me! Our house sparrows are just so cheery that it’s contagious. I love it. Thanks, everyone.
I doubted my guess that the starlings were starlings because the ones in the pictures looked so much more speckled than ours. Perhaps, I am just too far away to really see the details. It doesn’t seem that starlings are afraid of much. I wish they would just move on.
A special thanks to emilyforce for the fun fact and nifty Austin story! I would have cheered the rat snake on as well. I’m pretty sure I saw one slide across our driveway late one night last summer. Figured he was off to do some good. Perhaps, he irritated a few of our starlings.
The ones here in California never seem a elaborate as the ones on the east coast. When I compared drawings and photographs to the birds here, I thought the artist was taking a lot of license or maybe the light caught the feathers just so. But then I went to D.C., and damned if they aren’t all whored up over there! Maybe you’ve got the same dull type I have.
