Had a permission take me to a 'second' farm of his where he keeps Heifers. Was really anxious to get the Starlings out of there. There was poop coming down all the rafters and beams in the shed. I first tried to pick a few off in the daylight and thought there had to be a better way. I tried ATN Xsight but discovered they 'hid' somewhere after flying inside to roost so that idea fell short.
They always flew in and perched on some wire and hour or so before dark, aka, perch time. I just sat and watched one night. No shooting. Starlings in the hundreds would start trying to perch in small groups and came from all directions. However, they all landed on the wires or rooftops before flying inside and perching. Two or three times a week I would get there and hide and start picking them off the wires. (They were not regular utility wires but the wires the farmer had put up.) After a week or two I noticed there were fewer and fewet birds to shoot. Where I would see hundreds I now saw 5 or 10. Last night I saw one.
I contacted the farmer what he was seeing when he came in for the moring feeding during the dark. He said he saw a few perching on the wires but his livestock's back were not covered in poop. The farmer was really pleased that his cows backs were poop free and credited the air rifle pesting as the change maker. Apparently I created enough disruption they chose another area to roost. Just a guess. I just know they aren't there anymore. Don't know if others have had this experience but thought I would throw the experience out and see what others have experienced.
I learned two more things. On two different permissions where the Starlings were roosting about every 5 or 10 minutes, from somewhere inside the barn a Starling would start screeching a 3 part song. I don't know if it was a lookout or a vocal radar beacon that the birds coming to roost heard. It happened sometimes when I moved around and I thought it was an alarm. However at times I stayed in the blind, not moving and the same 3 part songs were done. I don't know what is going on. Anyone out there know about that.
Those of us who have hunted Crows know how they go crazy when we shoot one and it falls to the ground. Circling, screeching, for quite a long time. Last night I shot a Starling getting ready to fly into the milk parlor. It fluttered a bit on the way down and immediately there were about 40 Starlings exhibiting exactly the same behavior that I see with crows. They would circle with their tails flared, almost in a hover, and did that for a few minutes. I even noticed, a half hour later, a Starling would be flying over and see the Starling on the ground and slow down and make a couple of circles.
They always flew in and perched on some wire and hour or so before dark, aka, perch time. I just sat and watched one night. No shooting. Starlings in the hundreds would start trying to perch in small groups and came from all directions. However, they all landed on the wires or rooftops before flying inside and perching. Two or three times a week I would get there and hide and start picking them off the wires. (They were not regular utility wires but the wires the farmer had put up.) After a week or two I noticed there were fewer and fewet birds to shoot. Where I would see hundreds I now saw 5 or 10. Last night I saw one.
I contacted the farmer what he was seeing when he came in for the moring feeding during the dark. He said he saw a few perching on the wires but his livestock's back were not covered in poop. The farmer was really pleased that his cows backs were poop free and credited the air rifle pesting as the change maker. Apparently I created enough disruption they chose another area to roost. Just a guess. I just know they aren't there anymore. Don't know if others have had this experience but thought I would throw the experience out and see what others have experienced.
I learned two more things. On two different permissions where the Starlings were roosting about every 5 or 10 minutes, from somewhere inside the barn a Starling would start screeching a 3 part song. I don't know if it was a lookout or a vocal radar beacon that the birds coming to roost heard. It happened sometimes when I moved around and I thought it was an alarm. However at times I stayed in the blind, not moving and the same 3 part songs were done. I don't know what is going on. Anyone out there know about that.
Those of us who have hunted Crows know how they go crazy when we shoot one and it falls to the ground. Circling, screeching, for quite a long time. Last night I shot a Starling getting ready to fly into the milk parlor. It fluttered a bit on the way down and immediately there were about 40 Starlings exhibiting exactly the same behavior that I see with crows. They would circle with their tails flared, almost in a hover, and did that for a few minutes. I even noticed, a half hour later, a Starling would be flying over and see the Starling on the ground and slow down and make a couple of circles.
