Aurora borealis: <b>Rose-coloured Starling</b>

September 09, 2005

Rose-coloured Starling

Aurora header.jpg

This is more like it. Went out to the byre to make sure all was okay with the hens, to find a few Starlings blundering around. The local Starlings know me well, and immediately panic whenever I walk in there, fleeing out of either the doorway if it's still ajar, or failing that out of the several small holes in the tarred wooden roof. Sure enough, half a dozen clattered their way out, leaving one bird zooming around in the gloom at head height. I had just enough time to think "you look pale" before realising what it probably was.

I hurried back outside and shut the door, before legging it back to the house for my butterfly net. (This has been (excuse the pun) mothballed since moving to Shetland, as there are no butterflies to speak of, and more pertinently, no moths either. Not strictly true, but after a few nights of catching enormous hauls of exclusively Dark Arches, I've given up on the MV trap until my bushes and trees are more established and hopefully inspire some moths to stop by). Anyway! Back to the byre with the net, fully expecting my starling to have buggered off. Fortunately not, so caught it midair with a neat backhand. Nice to see I've not lost my touch with a kite net.

In daylight, sure enough - a juvenile Rosy Starling. A really smart bird in an understated sort of way. I bagged it up and took it to B's for him to process, texting JL en route - it makes a change for me to find a bird for him to see, rather than the other way round. Wishing I'd found him a Rubythroat is of course a bit churlish, as Rosy Starling is a nice addition to the croft list, and there's plenty of weeks of autumn yet to find a mega.

So many thanks to the hens for luring such a good start to my autumn account into their byre. I've asked them for a Yellow-browed Bunting when they've next got time.