Not so much about the Starling as the photos are about the background. Sure there's blurring from the blow-up effect, but the gray sky is so lacking in colour that it has made the photo look like a Japanese print. I had remarked on this effect the other day on Bob Bushell's site, "Birds and Nature In the Forest of Dean", ( just click on blogs I follow in the sidebar), and said I really liked it. As a matter of fact he had Waxwings in his photos, although they were in a tree with red berries. Take a look at .
Now the terrible gray skies have given me the same effect and I like it just as well. The effect is why it's on Skywatch.
The Starling is not a particularly rare bird; in fact, just the opposite. Introduced into Central Park in the 1890's from Europe, it adapted and spread over N. America. But here he looks pretty good.
Great captures.
ReplyDeleteSydney - City and Suburbs
Starlings definitely look nice right now. Unfortunately they take over the nests of native U.S. birds and kick them out.
ReplyDeleteThey do look like Japanese prints. Really brings out the great colour of the starling.
ReplyDeleteVery nice pictures! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mike B. European Starlings can be pretty (as your photos prove) but they will kill our native cavity nesting birds (i.e. Purple Martins). In many US states they are not protected...so it is legal to eliminate them in a humane manner.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is a handsome looking bird in this cycle of his plumage. Well captured!
ReplyDeleteTo Mike & Jean: The photos are really about the background colour which is the colour of the sky.This colour has been consistent, and yet we have only about 2-3 (1.5 in.) of snow. Scary, its our ground water, and last year was down in snow also.Also I've been trying to develope settings to shoot photos in this colour.
ReplyDeleteNow to starlings, we don't have as many as you do; it is not a farming or urban area.But I did review the web for starling info.There are too many starlings, but numbers are estimates because the flocks are apparently supplemented with other blackbirds e.g. Brewers,Red-Winged etc. They do take over the holes of other cavity nestors, but the web tells what you can do to stop that esp. with purple martins. Means of control are not successful and the natural predators Hawks and snakes are too few to do the job. Gee is this sounding familiar? We wiped out predators, now we're complaining. See my post about fisher-cats and their reintroduction in New England where porcupines are a problem, or wolves were re-introduced in Montana to cull the Elk herd naturally. In addition in some University studies( see www.starlingtalk.com/)stomachs of starlings indicated that 57% of their food was insects some very negative to farming eg corn bores. There also seems to be the suggestion that Starlings will cull their own growth themselves.
I'm not defending starlings; rather I'm against blanket statements. I've seen them made up here about bears in town. They're after garbage and grease bins and ornamental trees like crab apples. What are we doing planting crab apple trees in the middle of a forest? But the good ol' boys want take the rifle out of the rack; put their cigarette out, get up off their fat rear, tuck in the beer belly, and protect us from the bear menance. If you want to see how they're hunted read my bear post.
Anyway thanks for the visit.
Thanks J Bar for the visit and words. Boom and Gary.
ReplyDeleteTo Lorac: Thanks I wonder if the colour would carry over to a print.
ReplyDeleteMorning Linda: Thanks for the visit and comments.
ReplyDeleteHi Hike: But I also think the background makes that colouring more dramatic.
ReplyDeleteYour dead right Gary. A neutral coloured background really shows off the subject to good effect but it's not always easy to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteTo Phil: Thanks for the visit, and I think that background is a fluke of light, maybe not repeatable.
ReplyDeletealoha,
ReplyDeletethats a very unique skywatch for today, love the bird captures
thanks for sharing
Hi Noel: Thanks for the visit. Gary & Boomer.
ReplyDelete