Posted on 01/27/2009 7:51:20 AM PST by Marc Tumin
Hundreds of birds that dropped dead on Somerset County cars, porches and snow-covered lawns, alarming residents over the weekend, were all of a rather foul breed of fowl -- the notorious European starling, which the United States Department of Agriculture killed on purpose….
Yesterday, the USDA acknowledged a few mistakes of its own in spreading the word in the area around a Princeton Township farm, where it applied a pesticide Friday to kill 3,000 to 5,000 starlings plaguing a livestock farmer.
"It was raining dead birds," said Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine….
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Starlings are the worst pest I have ever encountered. When they fly and roost on your property they crap on everything. Everything must be covered, anything under a carport is fair game to them.
They roost in the trees, on the tools, on the lumber racks, under the shade and the ground is covered in poop.
I was using my table saw one day and left it uncovered that night. The next day it took several hours of washing to clean the crap off of it, and the barbaque, and the work table, and the floor, the shelvs for tools.
The response to starlings is to KILL THEM ALL! Any method, any means.
Take ‘em out; they are cavity dwellers. They take nesting places from American Kestrels, as an example.
Take all of them out by any means available.
I think they would have been using DRC-1339 for the pesticide, since it has lower secondary kills.
Avitrol is nasty stuff. It is best used for grackles - when grackels become erratic, the rest of them clear off. We used to have grackles on our farm by the hundreds. Hated them with a passion. I could get them to clear off for a day by blowing one up with the .17HMR in a very public manner. The .17 is wonderful for this — the target bird just explodes into a puff of feathers. You hear all this squawking and carrying on in the trees and in the shops, and they just clear off for the day.
Never used Avitrol. I figured the paperwork was too much hassle.
Exactly. Same with the English Sparrow. Those idiots decided it would be nice to have these rats here. They both harass or try to kill my Purple Martins. I pick off the trash birds with my scoped pellet gun right off the Martin house. The Martins just sit there with gratified look. LOL
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=8313256&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1
They should get some animal trainer from the Animal Planet channel to train them to eat kudzu.
Yes, it’s always the “feelings on the sleeve” bunch who conveniently forget the health aspects of being overrun with these critters, I know that situation well.
People need to find something to do with their time (work?) rather than screeching about every little thing having to do with controlling nuisance wildlife populations.
I wish there was an effective way to relocate them to the whiner’s trees and houses, then they’d know what a real nuisance is.
One reason might be that you must be 18 years old to buy BB's
the obvious first instincts would be to get the hell out of the house until you know what is going on. Dead birds is a very good indication of something bad in the air and you need to get out.
“One reason might be that you must be 18 years old to buy BB’s “
Huh? Where?
Now if Obama would issue an executive order.........
Huh? Where?
Missouri
Terrorism can be a very effective tactic.
<Having trouble believing it only killed starlings. What else aren’t they telling us.
That’s my thinking as well.
That’s my thinking as well.
"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you..."
Walk wary when you hear those words...
the infowarrior
I thought starlings were introduced in the Eastern USA to eat Japanese beetles. Is this a different species of starling?
Tell me about it! We could use less of that stuff around here, too.
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