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Re: Starling Attacks Flicker Nest



Dear Friends,

That what happens when you introduced new, aggressive species. I would
like to see some american plan to reduce population of Starlings,
Colored Dove and House Sparrow. That needs a good money, organization
and studies on interaction among native and these mentioned species.
That could be much more important than any Hummingbird action or find
Ivory-bill W. dream. Somebody from Audubon or other big organization
should start to control of these introduced species till it is not too
late. I wish you had no Starlings, Collared Doves or House Sparrows here
in US.

Mike

David Brinkman wrote:

> Dear Carolina Birders,
>
> I've seen this same thing happen, back in the 1980's,
> between starlings and flickers, but in one case,
> unfortunately, the starlings won. The flickers tried
> desparately to rid the starlings from their hole, but
> to no avail. They broke the flicker eggs and built a
> nest in the flicker hole and raised their own family.
> I've seen this happen with Red-headed and Red-bellied
> Woodpeckers as well.
> Meanwhile I have a flicker nesting in an existing hole
> in a dead tree (they did not excavate it themselves
> this year!) and so far I've only seen one interaction
> with starliings, but it was brief and the starling was
> successfully chased away.
>
> David A. Brinkman
> Cincinnati, OH
>
> --- John Argentati <johna@blue-lizard.com> wrote:
> > Dear Birders,
> >
> > Yesterday, I noticed a starling checking out the
> > nest box occupied by a pair
> > of flickers.
> > He would sit on the roof with nesting material in
> > his beak, eyeing the
> > opening.
> > My flickers have a habit of hanging their heads out
> > the hole so the starling
> > didn't try to enter - at least at first.
> >
> > Then, I watched in horror as the starling forced his
> > way into the nest box
> > while an adult flicker was inside.
> > I couldn't believe the starling would try this.
> > I held my breath...
> >
> > Fortunately the flicker successfully fended off the
> > starling, but I had to
> > wonder whether any of the eggs were damaged.
> >
> > This morning, I checked the nest box and found the
> > three little pink eggs
> > were just fine.
> >
> > Here's a picture:
> >
> > http://www.mybirdlist.com/FlickerEggs.jpg
> >
> > John Argentati
> > Greenview Pond
> > Raleigh, North Carolina
> >
>
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--
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Michal Skakuj  Ph.D.
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