In incidents that seem to have become rites of
winter throughout the northeast, rural residents living within a couple of
miles of large dairy farms were recently subjected to an odd, even frightening,
sight – starlings literally falling out of the sky and dying before them. When
the carnage concluded, homeowners found dozens of the birds dead in their
lawns. This columnist picked up an even ten dozen from his.
At first blush, some might think that a deadly
contagious illness overtook the avian community. Others might believe it’s another
sign from an angry god that followed once in a lifetime blizzards in the
northeast and meteors exploding over Russia.
Their deaths were caused by none of the above.
Instead, the birds expired due to an application of
a chemical agent known as “Starlicide.”
This compound is produced by Purina (which some may find strangely
hypocritical given the company’s basis in animal health) and it is the most
effective tool -- maybe the only
effective tool -- in controlling this most onerous of birds. Upon consuming
feed tainted with Starlicide, starlings slowly expire over a 24 to 36 period as
their organs congest.
As unsettling of a sight as hundreds of dying and
dead birds may be to the average person, it’s a welcome sight to farmers,
aviators and nature lovers. They are all affected by this invasive species,
brought to our shores in the 1890s when fans of William Shakespeare made the
ill-advised decision to release every bird mentioned in his plays to the
Americas (the very same reason we are inundated with English/house sparrows).
The starlings multiplied and took over the skies, being just as much at home in
the Big City as they are in farm country. It is estimated that there are over 200
million of them in the US. You can’t find an American who is unfamiliar with
these black birds that have green and purple iridescent tips on their feathers.
Farmers are certainly familiar with them. The birds
congregate in feedlots by the thousands, stealing feed and defecating in animal
food which spreads disease, including transmissible gastroenteritis virus which
can be deadly to young swine. It is estimated that starlings are responsible
for $800 million in agricultural losses every single year – almost 3 times as
much as the much-reviled boll weevil is in modern times. So, with no other
options left to contain the birds and prevent the damages, the farmers and USDA
regularly poison the birds every winter when they gather in the greatest
concentrations (thus making a mass kill easier).
Similar campaigns occur around airports. There, the
colonizing birds can prove to be deadly when traveling in large flocks and into
the paths of aircraft, getting stuck in their jets or gumming up their
propellers. Starlings were the known culprits in the infamous 1960 Boston crash
of Flight 375 that killed over 60 people and remains to this day as the single
worst bird strike in history. Many more starling events have followed over the
years, including a late-1990s crash that killed 34 people in the Netherlands.
Even bird lovers savor the demise of this feathered
fiend. Starlings are a scourge upon native species, especially fellow
cavity-dwellers. Take our beloved state bird, the bluebird, for example. That
beautiful creature was nearly wiped out in New York because of starlings. If
not for the efforts of birders and volunteers throughout the Empire State, they
would have been; they countered the overpopulation of the aggressive starlings
by erecting bluebird-specific birdhouses throughout the state. Because of that,
the bluebird has become common once again over the course of my life. Eradicate
the starlings and we might see similar success stories with other birds like the
rarely-seen redheaded woodpecker.
Taking all of that into consideration, and knowing
that the poisoned birds are no threat to you, your pets, or predators, you
should accept the mass deaths of starlings with open arms; that is, after
you’ve taken the time to pick up their corpses. We would be better served by
more mass poisonings of them each winter for this simple reason: the only good
starling is a dead starling.
Gasport resident Bob Confer also writes for the New American magazine at TheNewAmerican.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobconfer
This column originally appeared in the 11 March 2013 Greater Niagara Newspapers
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