Feeding time
It’s important to time having your chicks at the time of maximum food abundance. The Starlings of Westray seem to have mastered this, with thousands of Cranefly larvae being caught and consumed daily by chicks in crevices all over the Island.
The roof of Rapness Mill is now largely missing, and provides far less cover for the Starlings which roost in the caves and buildings along the coast here, but it still provides a few nesting opportunities.
Soggy Starlings, with their iridescent summer plumage, really are the most gorgeous characters. I wish them well in raising their noisy family.
More Starlings
Starlings in fine weather It's good weather, so I've returned to Rapness Mill to see if I can get some better action photographs of… read more
Stares The word Starling means little Stare, a young Stare, a juvenile Stare. Stare is what adult Starlings were always called… read more
Starling in the Meadow As I arrive in Broken Tower Meadow in Rome a group of Starlings scatter from their fossicking in the meadow.… read more
Sunset Starlings That orange sky was enough and yet the Starlings made it even more of an experience. read more
An early morning I'm not usually out early in the morning. You might have noticed that my blog contains many, many sunset photographs… read more
Stare Adult Starlings used to be known as Stares. It was the juveniles which were called Starlings. By the 16th Century,… read more
Storno There are only a few Swallows left in Italy in November, so it was fascinating to see Starlings taking their… read more
“The flesh of the stare is very bitter” This week I'm reading Reverend George Low's Fauna Orcadensis from 1813. Today it's the entry on the Starling: This is… read more