When the field corn starts to sweeten and the insect population starts to strengthen the Starlings come. They line the overhead telegraph wires like fat black pegs on a clothesline. They fly into the fields by the thousand feeding on the pests feeding on the corn and swoop back out in cascading formations. They fill the trees like a million fat flashing petals and chatter to each other their songless clatter reaching deafening proportions. And when you step out the door every sound stops, like turning off an efficient pouring tap with the snap of your fingers. Not one peep will be heard as they all swivel their eyes to you, holding their collective breaths then with the gush of a million clapping wings they will explode from the trees and fly like a wheeling school of flashing dark smoke straight to another tree. To be watched by a thousand narrowed eyes is an interesting thought.
I like the starlings, I know I shouldn’t but I do. I read that the Common Starling was introduced in the 1800’s into Grand Central Park in New York in a strange effort to introduce every bird mentioned in Shakespeare into their park. The Starlings have thrived and spread. They are a pest in the cities because of their noise and droppings but out here they eat their weight in insects every day in our unbalanced ecosystemless fields.
Where some insects develop out of proportion because of their resistance to the sprays and GM modifications so the Starlings have followed suit. I am fairly sure this theory of mine is completely unscientific but this is how it seems to me. The birds follow the insects and help keep them in control. But they are noisy and poopy and their sheer numbers and extraordinary ability to adapt enables them to compete with the native birds for food and nests (though many native birds actually join starling flocks .. safety in numbers and all that) but It is an odd unnatural balance on both sides. I like the starlings and every year I stalk them with my camera as they rest on the telephone wires in drooping lines numbering thousands, strung out along the road off into the distance. But they are too fast for me.
Yesterday An ambassador was sent forth from the Land of Joyful Filthy Pigdom. They chose the cutest one with the sticky uppy ears to approach me.
Miss c, he said.
Yes, piggie.
Can you open the gate again, we want to go out and play.
No, I said, you were naughty last night. You went under the fence and behaved badly in the next bay.
Do you mean the sheep, he said. I told them not to do it.
Rolling in the mud then cuddling up with a nice white sheep is naughty, Little piggie. How am I to get her clean.
How did you know, the pointy eared ambasssador said.
Because Tilly has the imprint of a pig on her side. I can even see your little muddy legs on her wool. I told him, attempting to look stern. A whole little piggie mark. Like a stamp.
We thought she might like it, said the ambassador. Kind of like a decoration. And she was so warm. She didn’t even get up.
I sighed. How are you getting out though, I said. I made a long low electric fence, it was hours of work.
Oh that’s easy, he said. It is a bit high by the pole. Oh, bugger. I should not have told you that. He paused and looked back at the others, they waved him on. How about an apple then. Can we have some apples?
Well, Yes, you can have an apple.
Can we go out and pick them, he looked hopelessly hopeful.
No, you can’t go out into the orchard, what would happen if you got lost in the corn. You can have apples but you have to stay in at night from now on. No more break outs.
Ok, he said, and ran back on his short fat legs to tell the others that I said that the first one to break out gets an apple.
It rained yesterday. Just poured.
Beautiful rain. Of course it was soon discovered that the trailer housing the chickens leaks like the proverbial sieve. So I had to create corrugated iron teepees inside the trailer to keep the chicks dry.
Our John could not work in the torrential downpours so he took an old mower apart and attached the wheels to The Ark. Thank you Michael for such a grand idea. The wheels even raise and lower. (Though carefully as the Ark is heavy) So I can lift them up when I pull it (which I can do by hand now) and lower it when I am done.
Excellent, now all we need is the chicks to grow a little bigger, poke through some adjustable roosts that will not trip them when it is on the move and cover it with the tarpaulin. All jobs I can do myself.
An inch of rain. Lovely.
Good morning. This morning as you can imagine is dense with a heavy fog borrowed from California. All that warm wet ground. The grass will be growing though, we have had a splendid season of forage in the fields.
Have a lovely day.
your friend on the farmy, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
68 responses to “The starlings have come”
Love the pig story (and photo — he is cute): you have a gift for dialog with animals.
That’s because they talk to me All day long! Did i steal your fog this morning? c
this city is loaded with starlings. they cover the bridges at dusk. they look rather creepy. however, we have perigrin falcons which love to eat them! i hope we get some of your rain!
yes they are pretty low on that particular food chain, but there are plenty to go around! The rain was gorgeous! c
Piggys are like humans, it seems, no matter what you tell them, they interpret it their own way! Starlings rise up, out of the trees, like a black cloud which moves in and out of formation.
Although there are too many and they are out of control there is a certain beauty in their movements.. morning jess.. c
An inch of rain – what a lovely summer treat. How do the starlings like the rain, I wonder. I love your description of them all stopping mid sentence and staring when you open the door, then taking flight.
The silence is deafening! morning sibhan.. how is my outdoor kitchen this morning, any more toads?.. c
Good evening to the ‘Starling Stalker’ ….has a nice ring to it don’t you think?
Awesome photos again Celi, your Pictures tell their own stories. Could you keep the rain as I am needing some fine weather tomorrow as I shift the cattle out the back of the farm.
Oh yes, you do not want them tramping the grass into the mud as you move them. Morning Sister Mine! c
For some reason those gunieas remind me of three nuns crossing the road.
Only three now, the fourth laughed his head off the other day, just fell over mid squawk. Old age I suppose, they have been here over 6 years now. And they do look like they have lifted their skirts and scuttled across.. Are Baby and the babies doing well? c
funny little piggy!!!!
They are at that cute age!! c
Good to see the birds Celi. You might like Geoff Park’s blog about Newstead in countryside Vic – he’s an amazing photographer of birds http://geoffpark.wordpress.com/
Thank you, i shall go and check him out while I eat my breakfast.. c
starlings are a wonderful sight when they are in full flight…swooping up and down, just about to touch the ground then up they go again. They mays be ‘pests’ to some people but like you I love them.
Your piggies are so funny, but also a bit on the naughty side me thinks. Can’t you train them like you do your dogs????
Oh for a bit of rain! The hot sunny days are nice but after months of heat it would be great just to feel the sprinkle of rain..just for a while
Thank you Celi for another interesting , amusing and wonderful account of life on the Farmy….
Morning patrecia, I am sure your day is going to be just as lovely as mine! c
I always loved how the starlings moved systematically from tree to tree down the street where I grew up. Everyone would come out on their front stoops to watch and marvel.
what a wonderful memory, they are really gorgeous to watch.. c
That little piggie story is grand. Can you please get a picture of the sheep with the little piggie imprint? So adorable!
I tried but by the time i returned it had got water colour washed in the rain, now she just has a dirty side. But it did look amusing at the time. c
The picture of the cutest piggy is adorable. You’ve captured just the right expression to convey all that impishness. I do not envy your starlings however. I suppose they are making themselves useful if they eat lots of insects, but there are so very many of them! Anyway, I can tell you from experience that your fog is probably not stolen from CA. Perhaps you got it from Oregon or Washington, but here in CA all we seem to have is smoke. It feels like the entire state is on fire (although thankfully nothing near us). Will your rain set back the alfalfa harvest?
Ooops, I guess that should be your hay field, not alfalfa? I think I remember it is a mixture of grasses?
It is an alfalfa grass mix but mainly alfalfa, and no i think the rain will give it lovely final kick up. I have alerted the Hay Baler man , but he has not told me when he will come yet.. c
oh Ambassador pig is so totally cute. I just love the way he talks 🙂 But never fear my friend, where there’s a will there is a way for us oinkers. We are Houdinis and we always be 🙂 XOXO – Bacon
To borrow a phrase from a favorite movie of mine “Babe” – that will do pig, that will do. V.
Cute conversation you had with the piggie. 🙂 I love his take-away from it. Muddy piggie snuggling with sheep–too funny. Starlings raid my peanut and suet feeders in the winter, but they don’t come back and get the mosquitoes and plant-eating bugs in summer. Not a fair trade-off.