the article mentions that they came originally from Europe but I have never noticed those large flocks over here. Aparently they are bigger nuisance in northern America. Take out your Dianas fellow airgunners and do society a favor!
it would take all the air rifles in the world to pacify the starling population in the State of Texas by itself
the Starlings are here to stay just like the German Roaches, Rat's, Iguanas, Python snakes and other non native species
these exotic species where brought here and they have settled comfortably in different states of the USA
here in Florida some IDIOT released some pet Iguanas from South America and they have multiplied like crazy reaching the level of a PEST species, they eat the eggs of native birds and are eradicating them little by little the eco system changes because of the introduction of non native species
warren
PS: you would need the air rifles from all the brands, Gamo, Diana, Crosman, HW, etc. and in .177, .20, .22, .25 and other calibers
and remember "it's 30% the gun and 70% the shooter"
everyone must shoot them every chance they get. At least that way you can help the native and song birds in your neighborhood thrive. I shot an entire flock last winter of about 14-15 Starlings and did not see them for a long time. I got more song birds this summer than I ever had before. It was amazing. Like 3-4x the numbers at my feeder. The last couple of years I 've witnessed them harrass and even eat or damage the eggs of Robins and Mocking Birds. They even kept harassing the mourning doves that were nested in my Spruce and eventually drove them out. There were 3 nests in that big Spruce. 1 belonged to Robins, 1 to mocking birds and the other to the doves. After the constant harrassment and the destruction of their eggs (also found some eggs on the ground), they took off and moved elsewhere.
This summer I saw only a couple of adult Starlings with their young and I took a couple of them but I 'll get the rest of them this wither when food is scarce for them. They love cat food and come within an hour after I put it out. They will eat anything when times are hard. You can definitely do something about Starlings. You can help the bird population around your home and in your neighborhood if you shoot enough Starlings. I have shot over 30 of them in the last the last 2-3yrs and I noticed the difference. I act the same with Grackles. They are very much like Starlings and even more aggressive. They always win driving birds out because they work together in great numbers whereas song birds only hang out with their mate. It really saddens me to watch the song birds try to fight the Starlings and Grackles off and rush back to their nest when they hear their young screaming that being pecked at by Grackles and Starlings. Sometimes the Grackles kill the fledglings. I watched a Grackle teach its young how to kill a fledgling house wren that had just performed its 1st flight. I have also observed the Starlings and Grackles work together attacking a Robins' nest on a tree in my backyard. I used to have pretty little Carolina wrens (house wrens) nesting under the porch and around the house until the Grackles & Starlings killed most of them and drove off the rest. I shoot them now on the spot whenever I get the chance. They are both nasty birds with nothing to contribute IMO. The Grackle is just our native "Starling", and nothing more. They should make it legal to shoot them but they are a migratory bird and have laws about shooting them. I don't think they 've studied them well to see how destructive they can be. They can also have huge flocks but not as big as Starlings. I think the English Sparrow does not compare to the Grackle which harasses most bird species it runs into.
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Diana 350 .22 aka "Old Tim" (J.W. tuned)
Diana 36 .177 CDT tuned
Lemak custom AF Condor .25
Talon Tunes AF Condor .25
Airhog tuned AF Condor .22
RWS Hammerli 850 .22
Crosman 2300XT Custom .22
Other Crosman Pump & CO2 .177
A vicious pest that could very well wipe out the songbird population in the future. Destructive to farmers, songbirds, and carry a lot of disease in their nest. They compete with livestock for feed, the grains for migatory birds and ducks. Nothing but a pest, like the nutria and snakefish that are destroying our rivers and streams.If every airgunner in all of North America went through a dozen tins of pellets a day, it would not effect the population of this cockroach with feathers. Shoot em all to hell.
I just dropped one 5 minutes ago. Went into the kitchen to get a glass of water and saw a starling out roaming around on the ground in my back yard(I just mowed yesterday and that always brings them out onto the grounds). I grabbed the laser rangefinder and beamed him, it said 45 yrds. I quietly opened the kitchen window, grabbed the HW50S which is sighted in at 35 yrds, so I placed the Leupy EFR ultra fine crosshairs right on his head(which should have the pellet enter into his upper chest at that distance) squeezed off the shot and "thump", he just laid over on his side. Upon inspection, the 7.9g JSB zipped through his upper chest and out the other side like hot butter. He didn't even flinch on that 45 yarder from the 10.8 FPE tack-driver.
... but wasn't aware of it's destructive abilities and the size of the problem. This article kind of freaked me out - like that Hitchcock thriller years ago... LoL
The only good thing coming from all this is that you lucky guys have a ****load of moving, living targets to shoot at and a pretty good moral excuse for killing inedible species.
Dimitris
PS Weird it might sound - Could you cook these pest birds and use them for... dog food or something???
contrary to the starlings the iguanas can be eaten and they taste like chicken, there was an article in the newspaper about a fellow hunting them with a GAMO air rifle in the Florida Keys'
they are really easy to hunt and are not a challenge like the crow, a head shot with a .177 cal air rifle doing 600 fps is all you need at 10-20 yards
funny laws in Florida; you have to kill any pest without leaving them wounded or be charged with animal cruelty
warren
PS: donate 1 $ to the NRA
and remember "it's 30% the gun and 70% the shooter"
I would love the chance to hunt some iguanas. Out here in northern California we have no large land based invasive species that I can easily hunt, however we do have PLENTY of starlings. I shot 2 the other day in 1 shot from my shotgun, and took a few out with my t01 45, and a couple with my benji 392.
