There has been a mass die-off of starlings in Gasport.
I came home yesterday to an eerie sight: My lawn was littered with dozens of dead and dying starlings, some actually falling out of the sky. So far, the body count is up to 80 in my yard.
Other area residents are experiencing the same. Look under your taller spruce trees as the sickened birds go to them for warmth and protection as the die.
This isn't the result of a disease. Nor is it some sign from an angry God related to the recent blizzards in the northeast or meteors exploding over Russia. It's a man-made affliction.
I came home yesterday to an eerie sight: My lawn was littered with dozens of dead and dying starlings, some actually falling out of the sky. So far, the body count is up to 80 in my yard.
Other area residents are experiencing the same. Look under your taller spruce trees as the sickened birds go to them for warmth and protection as the die.
This isn't the result of a disease. Nor is it some sign from an angry God related to the recent blizzards in the northeast or meteors exploding over Russia. It's a man-made affliction.
Starlings are a pest, an invasive species brought to the US in the 1800's to fill the world with all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's plays (seriously). They have become one of the most abundant birds in agricultural and urban America and have been harmful to the populations of other cavity dwellers (like bluebirds).
The USDA has poisoned or allowed poisoning of starlings in an effort to assist dairy farmers in getting rid of these birds which frequent barnyards, stealing feed meant for cows and pooping in the feed, making cows and calves sick.
