6 responses to “A Photo for Friday”

1. 

   Gregory Lawrence Brown

   January 9, 2026 at 1:48 pm

   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!

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2. 

   Mr. Prosser

   January 9, 2026 at 2:28 pm

   Starlings, beautiful when doing their murmurations, otherwise invasive pests.

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3. 

   JohnSF

   January 10, 2026 at 2:35 am

   @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.

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4. 

   Steven L. Taylor

   January 10, 2026 at 11:24 am

   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.

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5. 

   Steven L. Taylor

   January 10, 2026 at 11:30 am

   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.

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6. 

   Mr. Prosser

   January 10, 2026 at 2:35 pm

   @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.