ABC Wednesday - S is for Strike

Thanks go to Denise Nesbitt and her Stalwart Squad who organise and host this weekly meme. Click here for more Ss.

Just resting?

One day last week a starling flew into our patio door. It’s unusual at this time of year – generally it’s young, inexperienced spring birds that misjudge the angle at which they need to fly to clear the house.

Bird strike feather imprint on patio glass. I've enhanced it to make the print clearer

Often the birds are just stunned and after twenty minutes, sometimes longer, they have regained their senses and fly off to join their cacophonous friends and relations. Sadly this bird died instantly. We didn’t clear it away immediately and the dogs took no notice of it at all. The next morning the little corpse had disappeared – a ready meal for a passing fox, no doubt.

This morning we had two bird strikes. The first was a woodpigeon that hit the glass and rebounded with no harm but hurt pride and a sense of foolishness. The second was a starling. It, too, bounced off the door and landed on the garden bench where it lay motionless. It’s common for birds to be dazed and take time to recover but this was not to be the case for this little creature. No more would it peck hungrily at the fat cakes or drink from the pond or squabble like a small child with the rest of its flock. No longer would the sun catch its glossy feathers or silhouette it against the sky as it flew swiftly away.

Wing feathers

This is an adult in spotted winter plumage. The feathers are edged in orange-buff 

The blue-based bill indicates that it is a male. Females' bills are pink-based.

Just look at his smart feathery knee breeches . . . 

. . . and his beautiful square tail

It's sad to think that this young fellow will not glory in his green and purple sheened black spring apparel.

Starlings are not exotic but for me they have a beauty and fascination all their own. They are entertaining, gregarious, busy birds and I delight in their antics and their noisy conversations.