Sunday, February 20, 2011

Backyard Bullies or- the Starlings are here

I never knew that Starlings were such bullies!  And NOT just to the other birds but also to one another.

It all starts out innocent enough.  One Starling flies up to the suet...



And checks out the situation...


Very. Carefully.


And things are great.  Until another Starling wants to join in for breakfast.


A rather heated discussion ensues...


 And, sometimes, someone bites someone else.


But they usually work it out.  At least until that one at the next feeder decides to make a move...


And tries to join the other two...


wherein, another discussion ensues...


 and there's always one who complains more than the others.


Every so often, a Red-Bellied Woodpecker comes in for a meal.   But the Starling does NOT like this at all!


The woodpecker, however, is NOT impressed and tells the Starling just where to get off.


And he does.


DUDES!  All I wanted was to eat in peace!



11 comments:

Annah said...

Beautiful pictures. But those birds look mean as hell!

Ruth Hiebert said...

Oh,I love all the action.Excellent captures of the bird activity.

Empty Nester said...

Annah- thank you! They fuss all the time!

Ruth- Thank you! I was excited when they first showed up. LOL

Copyboy said...

Bird battling at its best!!! BTW...made you new blog of the day. I'd also be honored if you joined my free blog community @ bloggerdise.com

Jane said...

Super photos!

BB said...

There are a lot of people who I believe don't realize that if you watch birds enough you learn all about their habits and this is proof of it right here. It's amazing isn't it? Great shots.

Empty Nester said...

Copy-It was big fun watching them! Of course, nothing else gets accomplished when they're around. LOL Heading over to your site.

Jane- Thank you!

Barb-Thank you! I agree. I have witnessed some very interesting bird behaviors since I started photographing them.

Sondra said...

What a wonderful series of Bully Photos..lol but I see the Red Bellied won that battle! We dont have starlings at our feeders and now Im kinda happy we dont after seeing these!

Empty Nester said...

Sondra- I didn't realize they were bullies until they showed up. If the little birds are around, I shoo the starlings off! And the cowbirds- I had 29 of them the other day-guess which movie was running through my mind? LOL

FAB said...

Hi Pam. Just love watching these characters. Nice to see they don't mess around with the RB Woodie!

Empty Nester said...

Frank- Characters is exactly what they are, right? LOL