Today the juvenile starlings were at it again: following parents around everywhere looking for the food handout. Today the youngsters figured out that they didn’t have to stay on the ground. Looking at the short video, you can see the gray colored youngsters in the tree, waiting for the parents to grab a piece of the suet and then feed them.
The din produced by the constant loud squawking of the youngsters was there all morning.
Adult on left feeding juvenile, second juvenile, right, looks on
Remember the post about the Starling kids bugging parents for food? Well, this behavior continued today everywhere in our yard. The change noticed today was that there were even more juvenile starlings hanging close to adults, waiting and begging for food. The groups were seen on the ground like yesterday, and now in the trees and even the utility wires overhead. One juvenile even approached a squirrel that was munching on some peanut suet. Wrong move, juvenile! That squirrel was not going to feed you! Squirrel jumps up and at the bird. A moment of hilarity.
Today there were many more juvenile starlings in evidence. In addition the chatter from the young starlings was incredible, and the birds actually sounded agitated and anxious. It was not a calm day.
We noticed a behavior in starlings that we had not seen before. Adult starlings were moving through the yard, doing their normal grazing thing.
Some adult feathers are beginning to show on the backs of these two starling juveniles
What was different was the sight of juvenile starlings, one or two per adult, staying amazingly close. Every time the adult moved, the juvenile stayed right with the adult. We watched as the adult would grab a worm or grub an give it to the youngster. When the adult flew away the youngster would squawk and carry on very loudly. This parent/young interaction went on for minutes at a time.
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