Sturnus vulgaris.  It seems such a fitting sounding name.

The first Starlings were introduced to the United States in 1890.  It is said they were released in Central Park in hopes that all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s works would become established in the New World.

That wish has become a reality.  They are now a plague here in the states.  Starlings are dirty, and they are lazy pirates that take over other birds nests,  throwing eggs and babies out onto the ground.

These starlings flew down in an instant, and stripped my dogwood of its berries in less than five minutes.  The berries that my lovely nesting eastern blue birds rely on for food in winter.  Truly irritating, and even a bit intimidating… like something Hitchcockian.

So what can be done now?  Hmm…A nursery rhyme comes to mind…

“Four and twenty black birds baked in a pie…”