Starlings Question

[Jones4381]

Rode by an established colony about 5 miles from me. It always has 20+ pair each year as I like to ride by it annually. Today I noticed 1 lone ASY male on the ledge of the 2 aluminum houses. They have 12 rooms with round holes on each house. I notices 4 Starlings on the power line 25 feet from the houses, 8 or so foraging the ground, and 4 to 5 on the ledge by the PM.

Will the Starlings overrun this established colony or will the Starlings move on?

[Conrad Baker]

Sounds like they have already overrun it. Just the fact that you only saw one Martin, and 20 Starlings tell me that it's a lost cause without any human (pellet gun) intervention. Any Martins that are nesting there will probably be killed, or at least driven off. Martins cannot compete with the Starlings, and are not aggressive enough to protect themselves, so will find housing elsewhere.
I would rather see housing like that taken down, and allow the Martins to find safe housing elsewhere than to leave it up and provide a place for the Starlings to raise more Starlings. Martins don't stand a chance in that scenario, even though you say it was "an established colony".

[flyin-lowe]

This early in the season that colony might only have a few returnees back. Also my experience has been when my first returnees show up they don't always spend as much time at the colony as they will in the later weeks. Not saying starlings haven't over run the colony but it could be hard to tell this time of year. I haven't seen any of the starlings in my area fighting for cavities yet. I have SREH on my gourds but typically they will try to get in once their nesting instinct kicks in.

[Jones4381]

Yeah It's probably a 30 year old colony. The PM's still haven't arrived in this area of VA (old and cold mountain region of the state) and hopefully the Starlings are just foraging this morning and not looking to nest either yet, as I only ride by this site once a month or so...Hope it maintains its status as the oldest and biggest colony in the area as I'm counting on it for a feeder site for my colony I"m trying to get established. I stopped by once and knocked on the door but no answer...I assume its an elderly couple as you don't see poles and houses like that much anymore. It has 4 arms to it that the houses rest upon and they hang some gourds underneath it...really looks cool to me.

It's always interesting to me that the old houses and the 4 gourds below it are really small gourds along with the 6x6 houses all round holes and it's completely full every year....Site fidelity really does mean alot to these birds and rooting for this sites continued success. I'll try and visit again and meet the good folks at this home.

[saltair]

I have had houses with round and crescent entrances and starlings have entered both. I bought the Excluder doors and found the starlings could not enter. I bought 2 racks of Gourds with excluder entrances and gave my houses to a friend so he could start a New colony. Sparrows and starlings are flying rats.

[Jones4381]

Well scratch that...Starlings no where in sight this morning as I did another drive by and wow..counted 7 ASY males singing loudly....Looks like my intuition was correct that a large established colony will keep Starlings at bay.

[C.C.Martins]

Somewhat, they will keep them at bay somewhat. Martins got to go eat, leave the nests unguarded. Females incubate male will take off to eat. Subbies are inexperienced and do all kinds of things when they should be tending to a nest. Why I don't leave it to chance, starlings are bigger and tougher.

[deancamp]

I think starlings can erode away at a colony if not kept in check. If the landlords are elderly they may get to the point they can't or it is no longer worth it to fight the Starlings. If they're landing on the housing there is a very good chance they will try and nest in it.

[Jones4381]

Good points...I'll observe, report, and then perhaps meet some new friends and offer assistance in the future....The communal aspect like the martins show us every year...is the really cool part. Hopefully I can meet these fine folks and learn a thing or two as they probably have it more under control than I'm painting. It was really positive emotion that whaled up this morning when I listened and then saw those ASY males carring on with each other....Can't wait till I get that commitment one day. Peace and thanks for the information CC and dean

[Spiderman]

Starlings are resident to the area and build nests and begin laying eggs before the Martins arrive. The Martins have no ability to make the Starlings leave, the starling can definitely kill the Martins.

I watched two Starlings pull a female red headed wood pecker out of a nest box and throw it’s babies to the ground. Woodpeckers are tough but they were no match for the Starlings.

I shot the Starlings but the woodpecker never returned to that nest box again.

Now I trap (Van Ert) all of the Starlings, have for years and four varieties of woodpeckers live in our yard including a pileated woodpecker pair.