the hungry starling
swiftly catches the fly
only to do it again and again
while we try to make sense
of it all
As we hiked, we saw the hungry red-winged Starlings catching some of the many bugs that also stuck to our skins. We were sweaty, and the sun was blazing its rays on us.
The buzzing of insects reverberated around us, and the red-winged starlings made their way to-and-fro, from the one side of the bush, to the other.
Their mouths stuffed with insects, I pulled my camera from my backpack and I started to photograph these shining yet beautiful birds. I did not see the bugs in their beaks until I edited the photographs. I also did not see their tongues until I scrolled through the photographs on my laptop. What a surprise!
We hung around them for a while, as they did their acrobatic tricks in order to catch the little insects that floated around lazily in the afternoon sun.
Below, I share some photographs of this event, of the bird trying to catch its meal, to catch yet another fly, another beetle, another bug.
Have you ever seen the tongue of a starling? I know, I have not! It was so interesting when I opened my the photographs on my laptop only to see the tongue sticking out and looking at me! It was not what I expected. You can always see something new...
I am not sure, but I think the above one is the male, and the one with the lighter colour head is the female. (That is, the one below is the female.) They joined each other in the battles, maybe they have a nest together somewhere, jointly collecting bugs for their nest and the small birds waiting in there...
I was lucky to get so close to them. They almost did not see me, as I was hid behind a small bush. The plumage or feathers looked so beautiful in the sun; the male bird almost had a shine to it!
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Unfortunately, my zoom lens is a bit slow on the autofocus. Or maybe I am the slow one? But I managed to get one action shot in focus, the rest looks rubbish, as most of them are out of focus. (Forever, these photographs will remain in the graveyard of what could have been amazing shots!)
In the end, I was lucky to get so close, to see how they gorged themselves on these bugs. Almost every shot if you zoom in, they will have some bugs in their beaks. What a lovely thing to witness, and to see how even the insects that irritates us, play an integral role in the animal and bird kingdom.
I hope that you have some nice moments like this, where you can appreciate the small and the big.
For now, happy birding and photographing.
All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by the beautiful birds. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens.