BigOly
Senior Nomad
Posts: 523
Registered: 10-1-2010
Location: Los Barriles, Bandon
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Mood: Easy Birder
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One of the greatest bird clowns
of our desert. He'll bang on your satelite dish and laugh about it. He knows when you have a little(or big) hangy and finds the piece of pipe
closest to your window to drill away at early in the morning and of course, fly away laughing when you yell at him.
He is THE GILA WOODPECKER and he knows it!
Unfortunately a pest new to Baja, The European Starling, will surely compete strongly for the nesting holes in cardons that the Gila needs to
reproduce in the numbers they now have.
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Excellent images once again BigOly.
If you've every been awakened in the morning by a pounding sound on your cabover camper it's usually one of these guys. I've even climbed up up there
absolutely sure that there must be a hole the size of a golf ball. But invariably there is nothing. I guess it's just that when your head is 6 inches
away from his enterprise you're gonna hear it.
Do you really think the European Starling will replace this guy? I think the baja's desert climate is too harsh for that bird.
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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My friend Tucker (RIP) had a palapa-covered porch atop his house. 3rd story up, you could see forever. La Paz was a beautiful sight across the
water.
Each day at dawn I'd go up there with my cuppa tea, my journal, and a book.... and each morning the resident woodpecker would pound away on the steel
beams supporting the roof. Until then I'd never imagined a little bird could create so much racket.
But ya know.... after awhile that sound was so representative of Baja that it was almost music to my ears. Note that I said "almost". 
Thanks Oly, for the memory.
nena
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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BigOly
Senior Nomad
Posts: 523
Registered: 10-1-2010
Location: Los Barriles, Bandon
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Mood: Easy Birder
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Skipjack, No I don't think the Starlings will replace the Gila. They are pretty tough customers. It's just that Baja Sur resisted the invasion of
European Starlings for so long and starlings nest in cavities in trees and cactus etc. I saw one or two starlings 6 years ago here in Los Barriles.
This year there everywhere! Telephone lines are covered with starlings for hundreds of meters at a time. Starlings consume tons of all kinds of food
impacting farmers and wildlife. They also spread desease.
On the other side of the coin I'm seeing more raptors esp. Peregrine falcons, that prey on starlings so I guess we'll see what happens.
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goldhuntress
Senior Nomad
Posts: 663
Registered: 1-28-2010
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Thanks
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Now that's interesting.
Do you think it's because of the rains and mild weather? Have you seen this through a full year cycle? BCS seems to be greener than the north.
I was thinking about how starlings are greater adaptors than many others, like house sparrows. Catavina has lots of house sparrows but move away about
500 yards and they're all gone, unable to survive with the lack of water. Are starlings 'city birds' as well? Could it be that the development has
made it easier for them now because there is a garden hose within flying distance?
Or maybe it's just a general expansion of their territory.
I remember seeing them in people's yards as a kid in Australia (got one with a slingshot) but never in the fields. The Brits must've brought them
over. However, here in the US they flock with blackbirds over farmland.
Please share any theories.
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BigOly
Senior Nomad
Posts: 523
Registered: 10-1-2010
Location: Los Barriles, Bandon
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Mood: Easy Birder
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Skipjack Joe, European Starlings were introduced in New York in 1890. They are great opportunists and at first take the path of least resistance. I
guess it took a while for them to grow in numbers sufficient enough to force them into Baja Sur. They need water and food and lots of it. The
pickens are not easy here so it's taken them over 100 years to break down the barriers.
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Starling -
Do you think the name came about from the white spots on a black background? Like the night sky.
It would be so cool if it did.
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