Particles & Waves

By EdwardFenner

Avian vermin (to some)

Starlings. Common starlings. Specifically, European starlings are much despised by many people in North America. They are seen as a particularly unwelcome invasive species. They are noisy and have no pleasant song. They tend to flock in massive numbers and gobble up grain crops and clear out bird feeders (and our wallets). I do not hate them but I can see why some do not like them. They do eat a lot but tend to come around for a few days then disappear for weeks... mostly. My view is they are just trying to survive like all the other birds so live and let live. However...

From the Wikipedia link above: "There are 200 million in North America descended from 60 to 100 birds released in Central Park, New York by Eugene Schieffelin. He was president of the infamous American Acclimatization Society which tried to introduce every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare to North America in 1890, and this turned into a terrible environmental disaster."

As you can also see in the photo, winter finally arrived in the Toronto area. Cold (-16C with a wind chill of around -26C) and a few centimetres of snow. Warming up to -4C or so for Monday then around +3C the rest of the week with nightly overnights a few degrees below freezing. More like early March weather which is about perfect for maple syrup production! Mmmm, sugar shack pancakes in the woods soon!

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