Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Starling Saga: please don't fall out of your nest!

Well, the starlings have refurbished the nest under the eaves of the building where I work and yesterday morning I found two-thirds of an empty pale blue egg. When I got home I saw another empty blue egg under the house's eaves that hadn't been there in the morning. I had this image of a starling calendar: mate on April's first Wednesday, finish building nest, lay eggs, hatch babies-- on different days but simultaneously across the city.

Does a bird's offspring inherit the nest of the parents? Where I used to live, there was a pair of starlings under the eaves for twenty years!-- four or five generation's worth, as it turns out; a starling in the wild lives from five to seven years, although domesticated starlings can make it into their teens.

Last year the baby starling at work fell out of his nest three times; twice I was there to put him back. the third time happened over a weekend; the bird was dead on my arrival.

So to this year's starling, who I could hear today faintly chirping: stay in your damn nest until you can fly! I don't want to have to resort to the whole Circle of Life mantra for comfort.Just do the right thing and be one of those long-lived starlings. Now if my readers will just say to themselves, "I do believe in starlings, I do, I really DO!".

No comments: