Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!att!cbnewsk!king
From: king@cbnewsk.ATT.COM (joyce.l.king)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Most Common NA bird
Summary: starlings
Message-ID: <1188@cbnewsk.ATT.COM>
Date: 12 Oct 89 13:00:14 GMT
References: <1989Oct10.134119.608@utzoo.uucp> <3941@helios.ee.lbl.gov> <11668@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 16


When I bought my first farm, in 1965 (I was a 3 years old :^)...), a
tent caterpiller plague hit the community.  Every other farmer in the
area sprayed.  I couldn't afford to spray, having just spent my last
dime.  Huge flocks of starlings from nearby Cincinnati came out every
day and feasted on my fuzzy worms.  The next year all the farms were
hit again, but mine (which had a lot of old apple trees and was a prime
candidate for the little buggers) had many fewer tents.  Every year the
neighbors would spray and spray, and every year they'd get them back, 
but I guess the birds were more effective than spray, because mine
cleared out in a couple of years and I never had a problem.  For all I
know, the neighbors still have a problem.

I've been a starling fan ever since.

Joyce Andrews King (from the Florida Keys via modern communications)