Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.
@Mr. Prosser:
I *like* starlings.
Their lovely iridescence, and sticking their beaks in the lawn to get at grubs.
But here they are natives, not invasives.
I am no bird expert, but I am trying to learn. My Merlin Bird ID app identified these as brown-headed cowbirds, and I can visually confirm that at least some of them were. Although I have read that said birds also flock with starlings, which is what I thought these were.
Just Googling about and saw this. Most of the birds on that list are common visitors to my home: the starling, the house finch, the house sparrow, the cattle egret, and the eurasian collared dove.
@JohnSF: Their iridescence is lovely and they are harmless. The problem is their numbers. When they gather on one area their droppings just cover everything. Clean up of sidewalks and exposed automobiles and patios takes awhile.
@Steven L. Taylor: House finches and house sparrows are the most common at my winter feeders along with Mourning Doves. There used to be Collared Doves but some sort of non-bird flu virus really clobbered them in my area, haven’t seen any for two years.
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Mutt: How many birds are there?
Jeff: Eleventy thousand and ten!
Mutt: How do you know that?
Jeff: I counted their wings and divided by 2!
Starlings, beautiful when doing their murmurations, otherwise invasive pests.
@Mr. Prosser:
I *like* starlings.
Their lovely iridescence, and sticking their beaks in the lawn to get at grubs.
But here they are natives, not invasives.
I am no bird expert, but I am trying to learn. My Merlin Bird ID app identified these as brown-headed cowbirds, and I can visually confirm that at least some of them were. Although I have read that said birds also flock with starlings, which is what I thought these were.
Just Googling about and saw this. Most of the birds on that list are common visitors to my home: the starling, the house finch, the house sparrow, the cattle egret, and the eurasian collared dove.
@JohnSF: Their iridescence is lovely and they are harmless. The problem is their numbers. When they gather on one area their droppings just cover everything. Clean up of sidewalks and exposed automobiles and patios takes awhile.
@Steven L. Taylor: House finches and house sparrows are the most common at my winter feeders along with Mourning Doves. There used to be Collared Doves but some sort of non-bird flu virus really clobbered them in my area, haven’t seen any for two years.