We discovered that they like the berries in a tree here.
They struck with military discipline, by coming in in batches.
Never seen this before, as the Red-winged Starlings (Onychognathus morio) knew that not all of them could feast on the tree together, so they decided to take turns to come in to eat. The majority waited in the surrounding trees, and as soon as one batch had eaten its fill, they would take off and another batch arrived.
So, come watch this rare occurrence.
Here below you can see some of the ones waiting to come in and eat.
As soon as the one lot had had enough, a new lot would arrive.
I watched this group waiting to come in to eat the berries.
And here you can see that when it was their turn, they came in.
The starlings even took turns to drink from the rainwater in the gutter of the sidewalk.
Finally, I think that this guy was the leader, as he didn't come down, but signaled with his tail when each group had to come in.
A wonderful and amazing sight. Just goes to show that in nature discipline rules. I am telling you that the action here was performed with military precision, and maybe they worked the turns according to age, or gender. But I don't think so, as I saw the ones that were drinking the water, and you can see that it is both males and females together. The females have grey heads, and the males have the black/blue glossy heads. The thing about the starlings, is that they have invaded the suburbs in search of food. And now instead of nesting in mountains and ravines, they nest on the ledges of buildings and cavities in house roofs. So as if to say, Well, if you take our territory, then we will take your territory.
Such is the starling's life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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