Niagara Gazette — In incidents that seem to have become rites of winter throughout the northeast, rural residents living within a couple of miles of large dairy farms were recently subjected to an odd, even frightening, sight — starlings literally falling out of the sky and dying before them. When the carnage concluded, homeowners found dozens of the birds dead in their lawns. This columnist picked up an even 10 dozen from his.
At first blush, some might think that a deadly contagious illness overtook the avian community. Others might believe it’s another sign from an angry god that followed once in a lifetime blizzards in the northeast and meteors exploding over Russia.
Their deaths were caused by none of the above.
Instead, the birds expired due to an application of a chemical agent known as “Starlicide.” This compound is produced by Purina (which some may find strangely hypocritical given the company’s basis in animal health) and it is the most effective tool — maybe the only effective tool — in controlling this most onerous of birds. Upon consuming feed tainted with Starlicide, starlings slowly expire over a 24 to 36 period as their organs congest.
As unsettling of a sight as hundreds of dying and dead birds may be to the average person, it’s a welcome sight to farmers, aviators and nature lovers.
They are all affected by this invasive species, brought to our shores in the 1890s when fans of William Shakespeare made the ill-advised decision to release every bird mentioned in his plays to the Americas (the very same reason we are inundated with English/house sparrows). The starlings multiplied and took over the skies, being just as much at home in the big city as they are in farm country. It is estimated that there are over 200 million of them in the US.
Farmers are certainly familiar with them. The birds congregate in feedlots by the thousands, stealing feed and defecating in animal food which spreads disease, including transmissible gastroenteritis virus which can be deadly to young swine. It is estimated that starlings are responsible for $800 million in agricultural losses every single year – almost 3 times as much as the much-reviled boll weevil is in modern times. So, with no other options left to contain the birds and prevent the damages, the farmers and USDA regularly poison the birds every winter when they gather in the greatest concentrations (thus making a mass kill easier).
Similar campaigns occur around airports. There, the colonizing birds can prove to be deadly when traveling in large flocks and into the paths of aircraft, getting stuck in their jets or gumming up their propellers. Starlings were the known culprits in the infamous 1960 Boston crash of Flight 375 that killed over 60 people and remains to this day as the single worst bird strike in history.
Taking all of that into consideration, and knowing that the poisoned birds are no threat to you, your pets, or predators, you should accept the mass deaths of starlings with open arms; that is, after you’ve taken the time to pick up their corpses. We would be better served by more mass poisonings of them each winter for this simple reason: the only good starling is a dead starling.
Gasport resident Bob Confer also writes for the New American magazine at TheNewAmerican.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobconfer
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