Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:21:06 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Felley Subject: Delightful starlings MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Yes, starlings delight me! I love watching them in all seasons and at all times! Yet I know that I am in a very tiny minority. However, paying attention to starlings can be rewarding, even for the confirmed starling-despiser. Recall that starling flocks in flight go into a tight formation when a raptor is flying nearby, and usually they attack the hawk (making the hawk easy to find). That leads to this recent anecdote: While driving on the 370 spur, I happened to see such a flock form up. I quickly glanced around to see where the hawk was, and sure enough, a Cooper's Hawk was soaring nearby. All of a sudden, the hawk folded its wings and dove -- on a perched Red-tailed Hawk sitting in a tree by the road. Two raptors seen in less than 4 seconds, because I noticed some flocking starlings. CAVEAT: Don't bird while driving! I almost never do, but it's hard to tear your eyes away from a stooping hawk! Jim Jim Felley Smithsonian Institution irmss668@sivm.si.edu ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================