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Bird ID

bazabaza Posts: 670
in Wildlife gardening

Hello Everyone

I've been to the allotment and noticed 100's of birds nesting in the trees around the allotments they are smaller than a blackbird but bigger than a swallow they are black with dark green splashes and they are making a hell of a glorious racket .They have appeared from nowhere .

What are they? Would of asked the local gardeners but they weren't there when i was.

Photo would help if possible

Thanks

Baz

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Posts

  • WonkyWombleWonkyWomble SuffolkPosts: 4,304

    Sound like they could be starlings Baza, noisy birds, oily sheen to their feathers? They are getting less common but I have a gang visit my feeders image

  • bazabaza Posts: 670

    Hello WonkyWomble they do have the oily sheen but when i have went on youtube to see them all i saw was the tens of thousands dancing in the sky at Gretna Green, which i have seen in real life and what a sight that is . They might be them but not convinced.

    Thanks

    Baz

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 82,137

    Wonky's right.  Definitely an adult starling Baza, in breeding plumage.  Have a look at this link

    http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/s/starling/

    The youngsters are just a plain dull brown.

    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • bazabaza Posts: 670

    I'm starting to convince myself that they are starlings because they tend to fly in large groups around the allotments ,like i say what a racket they make i hope i can get a photo of them because i don't know if they are nesting in the surrounding trees or just stopping for a few days before they take flight again.

    Thanks

    Baz

  • bazabaza Posts: 670

    Yes just looked at your link Dove and yes they are starlings

    Thanks

    Baz

  • marc weirmarc weir Posts: 124
    If there starlings they wont be nesting in the trees they nest in holes and crevices
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 82,137

    We've got a group of juveniles (plain browny-grey) with some adults that nested in the neighbours' roof; now they're hanging around, roosting in the trees and hedgerows around our garden and taking the fat pellets and mealworms from the bird feeders.  Noisy but fascinating - they make so many different noises, clicks and whistles.  In the autumn they'll leave our gardens and join the huge flocks that roost in reedbeds etc, and perform those amazing murmurations in the sky.

    Edd, stop trying to frighten people image you know perfectly well that they'll not harm Baza's newly planted crops - they're great for gardens as they eat leatherjackets etc image

    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • Hortum-cretaeHortum-cretae Posts: 979

    What's often funny to see is when they do that same swirling about, but in twos and threes, as if it's something they 'just have to do'. I suppose they don't realise it doesn't look as good!

    H-C 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Central Norfolk UKPosts: 82,137

    At the moment some of our juveniles are still learning - it's really funny to watch them being so clumsy and missing their landing from time to time.

    “I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh







  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,288

    I like starlings but we mainly see them in the winter months here and always in flocks. They land sometimes and leave the grassy areas peppered with little punctuations. When we first came here there was a family of starlings and the male was a talented mimic. He did hen noises, the first part of the curlew's call, though not the long swirl at the end. There was some call annoyingly similar to the noise our phone made so we kept running in to find it silent. And he did a blackbird alarm call when there was something to warn about, an example of inter species communication. Our dog always joins in barking when the geese raise the alarm too.

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