This morning I had a job near Holywell with a very early start and a very
early finish and so with the lure of an adult rose-coloured starling in a
garden in Llandudno Junction I took advantage of the opportunity and headed
west.
The bird has been elusive at best over the past few days and wasn't on show
when I arrived at Nant-y-coed. There were a couple of birders walking around
the estate trying to track down the starling flocks, but I wasn't convinced
that this was the right approach.
There's a common misconception amongst many birders that rosy starlings move
around with starling flocks, but in my experience they don't. Yes they may be
present at feeders when common starlings are also feeding, but usually they
don't move with the flocks. I've found that rosy starlings actually tend to
stay close to the areas where they feed and that's why they can be so elusive.
They feed on feeders often out of view in a back garden, and when the starling flock moves off,
the rosy starling stays in the garden, often hidden in the foliage of a tree
or bush until it gets hungry again. Only rarely do they move to other feeders or sit up high up on aerials.
After I'd been in the street for an hour a car pulled up and the occupant got
out and said "You've no chance". After a little prompting he explained "the
bird feeds in my garden or my neighbours and very rarely leaves. It just sits
hidden in the fir tree at the back until it's ready to feed again. You can
come in if you like."
I walked down his driveway until I had a nice view of his small lawn. He put
some food down about 3m from me and 10 minutes later the bird appeared in the
fir tree and after a further 10 minutes flew onto the lawn and began feeding. A really nice close view. I don't think I'd have seen it if I'd not been
invited in, certainly mine was the only mention of the bird on BirdGuides
today.
Actually I think that this is a 1st summer bird rather than a full adult, due
to the brown nape and possibly also the smudgy back.
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