The starlings were persistent, but so was I. As soon as I could ambush one or a pair, others were likely to follow. (We had to have comfortable eaves.) Newcomers would eventually incur my wrath and .177 spherical projectiles. The eradication of the air-breathing starling continued for much of my youth.

In my formative years, I wore three BB guns – two lever action and a cool Model25 pump – until I finally kicked things up a notch and upgraded to a Sheridan 5 mm. I thought out of 10 pushups I could probably stop a charging buffalo, but, alas, there were none, so I exhausted the starlings.

I no longer harangue the starlings, but I still have very little esteem for them. The best thing I can say about these Exotics is that they gave me an outside mission and a handful of nickels. I didn’t really understand at the time how bad they were.

Starlings are not considered so disgusting where they belong, i.e. Europe. They are probably aggressive and rude birds there too, but at least they are a natural part of the ecosystem in Europe. These are ill-advised imports for North America.

The history of starlings in America dates back to the late 19th century, when European immigrants figured it would be good to have some flavor of the surrounding old countries, if only in the form of a common bird. . There were no known starlings in America until a group of immigrants from New York imported 60 of the birds from Europe and released them in Central Park in 1890. Another 40 starlings were brought and released in 1891.

From these 100 birds stored in the New York park, the starlings bred and spread across the countryside. Breeding, expanding their territory with new birds from a few nestings a year, the species slowly but surely crept in.

Within half a century, starlings had traversed the United States, the species found as producing residents up to the Pacific coast. Eventually, these original 100 individuals and their multiplying offspring filled available habitats and produced a population that bird experts have estimated at 200 million across North America.

Many people don’t know starlings from blackbirds, but they are clearly different animals. An important distinction is that various robin species are native birds, original equipment for our North American ecosystems. Starlings, being exotic, are bad news for native species as they are additions to the system and therefore create a burden and compete with songbirds that truly belong here.

The fact that starlings are both aggressive and prolific makes them particularly effective and more troublesome to natives. While starlings often hang out in mixed flocks with blackbirds, they can be differentiated from blackbirds if you look at them closely.

The starling is 8 to 9 inches long, although it is with a rather short tail. All blackbirds are a little longer thanks to a tail that extends further. In flight, it is quite easy to spot starlings with their abbreviated tail feathers.

The common starling is a fairly stocky bird, larger than a sparrow, although smaller than the size of a robin. Its wingspan is about 12 to 15 inches.

From a distance and/or in low light, the starling simply appears black. If you look closely, however, the starling has a greenish to purplish sheen over black. In winter, the plumage of the starling is dotted with off-white spots. These fade in spring and summer but are important during the cold season.

A starling has a yellow beak, orange legs and dark eyes. A common blackbird has a black beak and legs and bright yellow eyes.

Omnivorous starlings feed mainly on insects in hot weather, but at this time of year they swallow more seeds, grains or fruits. Herds of them invade agricultural fields harvested for grain waste. This is often what happens when starlings hang in aggregate groups. Starlings scurry into feedlots for livestock feed or around dumpsters, parking lots of fast food restaurants or anywhere people are messy and leaving trash to be cleaned up.

Starlings do not prefer deep woods, but they do thrive in agricultural fields, suburbs and cities. They like lawns and fields of short grass and do well on asphalt and concrete.

We see the starlings as migratory flocks in the winter, but many live and nest here in the spring and summer. They are cavity nesters – aggressively displacing native species – in natural nesting places like hollow trees. This is the main reason why starlings are considered a noxious pest species and have no legal protection.

Their cavity-nesting habits extend to using cubbies in man-made structures, which brings us back to why I became a hitman, a BB-ball starling assassin at such a young age. age.

I bet they still fear me.