Snow's back
So are the starlings
I am beginning to get obsessed with them and am contemplating making a scarecrow this morning...I have one problem with this....
I have no crappy clothes to dress it in...
I am wearing them all!!!!
Its going to be a stay-at-home day -sorry about the crappy video, dunno what is up with my 2 year old 20 quid digital Argos camera
just stand in the field armed with pots and pans!
ReplyDeleteactually, have you EVER seen starlings take any notice WHATSOEVER of a scarecrow?
ps maybe you're suffering from oSd?
Hi John! Love your video at the start of my day and I'm sorry your friend can't come to visit!!
ReplyDeleteAt times when I'm looking for 'old clothes' I always use Carl's!--So I'll suggest you look through Chris's closet! :-) Good luck!!
Get yourself a better camera, John, and you could compete with Alfred Hitchcock. You may have trouble setting fire to your car at the village garage as you and Chris try to escape to safer territory, though. C.G.I.'s the answer, I think.
ReplyDeleteTee hee...."bastard starlings"....you make my lady laugh!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you did a scarecrow, John, you'd have to make one with all kinds or whirly-twirly spangly things to scare the birds...but it would also probably terrify you chickens! How about making a scarecrow wearing a good suit? hee hee
You'd really have to make a mobile scarecrow; well more of a robot, so you could have it walking about the field like you do. Maybe have a voice box in it so it could utter a few expletives!
ReplyDeleteI don't think a scarecrow would work unless it was motion activated by the starlings. I think that could prove to be an expensive project.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried hanging noisy tins in the trees? Aah, but then you would be listening to the tins rather than the starlings. Plastic bags on some branches to flutter and make noise with movement?
Sorry, I was just rudely awakened by Jill barking her head off, she had seen a dog....
I'm sorry sir but your attitude to wild birds is, in my humble opinion, rather topsy turvy. Embrace the starlings! Buy them a few sackfuls of wild bird food and get out there during the winter to nourish them each day as you do with your earthbound fowl. Solidarity With Welsh Starlings! Feed the Trelawnyd Five Thousand!
ReplyDeleteOh, MY! The absolute contempt is just dripping from your voice, when you even mention those starlings! Don't you realize that they LOVE you, John! That think that you are this wonderful man that brings them food every day and performs this delightful dance, accompanied by song (who knows ~ maybe curse words are lyrical, if one is a starling!). Think of them as your MANY new friends!
ReplyDeleteJust trying to help you make an attitude adjustment, as you know what 'they' say ~ hate only hurts the hater. You must learn to LOVE the starlings.
Oh, how I wish I could see a video of your face as you read this comment!
;-)
Pud and Nancy
ReplyDeleteI am literally pulling my hair out with these starlings...I am not feeding a few dozen....the trees are sometimes BLACK with them....25 kilos at least of pellets they are eating every four days or so...
thats a great deal of money!
Good grief, you have a lot of starlings. And I don't know anything that gets rid of a determined mob of the little buggers.
ReplyDeleteI believe it needs to be movement and flashy, yeah.
ReplyDeleteLike a bunch of empty pie tins strung on a length of string or some such.
Sudden loud noises work, as you know; but might frighten the chickens, too.
Sorry I can't come up with anything more. Maybe you have some friends who have dealt with the problem successfully?
Thanks for the inspiration John to upload the odd video feed. I got off my arse today and tried it (successfully) for the first time.
ReplyDeletecraig
ReplyDeleteyour video is mighty fine compared with my effort
Lol...we're having the smae problem with the blackbirds and the bird feeders.
ReplyDeleteThe First Sergeant ran frantically out the door this morning, waving his arms in the air, and shouting at the top of his lungs. They flew to the nearest tree, waited for him to go inside, and returned.
The neighbors happened upon the sight of his tantrum, I'm still smiling :D
Tin pie plates hanging by string sometimes help.
Wow, it was good to hear a real you, John. Enjoyed your video and the war on the starlings. We don't have such a problem with these birds, but crows can be a nuisance at tourist spots and in the mountains. Bundle up against that snow! greetings from Jo
ReplyDeleteJohn -
ReplyDeleteLovely morning! I am amazed that your voice sounds exactly as I'd imagined... I've been slowly reading your blog from past to present, and you have such a conversational way of writing that I "hear" it in my head as I read.(when all of the other voices bother to shut up and listen, at any rate) Usually I am am quite off the mark, but for once I was almost spot on. I don't have any great wisdom on scaring starlings... is there any place in which you can feed the chickens that the starlings wouldn't go? In the coop perhaps? Or could you make a 'box' out of wood and chicken wire, with a small door for the non-starlings to go in and out for food?
Kate
p.s. I did like the idea of oSd...
I love your videos John! Those dang starlings are a pain in the butt aren't they. We have 'waves' of blackbirds here and when they choose our trees to perch in it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock movie! I've tried running around waving a towel or throwing things in the air and I swear they just laugh at me and move to another branch to watch the show. Oh well. You could try a scarecrow maybe it would work or how about buying a second hand ball pitcher...you could aim it at the tree tops with a motion detector. Your neighbour's might not like it but they could just wear hard hats when they go out to the garden. Don't mind me...I'm having one of those days.
ReplyDeleteMaura ;)
My apologies, John. I shouldn't make light of your predicament. It's just that the thought of you running and screaming and cursing and throwing things at the starlings is almost too much to bear!
ReplyDeleteI wish I did have some words of wisdom for you. I know all too well how expensive feeding poultry can be ~ without feeding the transient wild bird population as well! Perhaps that's it?! Maybe the starlings are migrating and will soon be gone? One can always Hope.
In the meantime ~ what if you were to put a couple of dogs out there during the day???
Good luck!
Pat & I both had a laugh at your scarecrow remark. Most of my cabin clothes are fit for a scarecrow too! I always enjoy your videos, grainy or not. ;<)
ReplyDeleteit's a battle that you will never win.....
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada