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February 12, 2009

Cattle Farm Birds

Late this afternoon I got a call about a Prairie Falcon that was found at a cattle farm about five miles from my house. My mom and I went down and saw the bird in a field on top of a corn stalk. I got a truly horrible shot of it but it is id-able (I guess?). This is an occasional bird in our area and it is always fun to see one.

Another thing that was worth seeing were the thousands of starlings that were flying around the farm. Sure, birders couldn't care less if they saw starlings or not, most people just ignore them. But when there are as many of them as there was at the cattle farm it is hard to ignore the masses of them flying around.

Cattle Farms are interesting places to bird. Lots of birds use them during migration and we have even found some rarities around them. There is plenty of shelter, water, and food (starlings for falcons) around, so it is no surprise that so many birds use them.

2 comments:

FAB said...

I'm not sure why so many hate Starlings (they a 'Red Listed' in Europe). Watching 000's swirling in the sky prior to going to roost is a great sight.

Tucker L said...

The reason these birds are so hated over here is the fact that they are introduced and are causing cavity nesting birds to decline in numbers since they steal their nesting holes. They are considered a pest by birders here.