Starling Squabble Close-Up

I know I've been hitting you with a lot of videos recently, but indulge me one more time. When I've videoed the starling squabbles at our bird feeder in the past, I've used my iPhone -- which works OK to a point, given that the bird feeder is out in the backyard and I have to film from the doorway of the house. But the other day I experimented with my big camera -- with its big zoom lens -- which is also capable of videos. I never use it for that purpose and wasn't sure I'd even remember how, but I managed to make it work.

So, there you have it -- the daily (or at least as often as I feed them) starling squabble, close up! (This one is also much squabblier than the previous video. All the water you see being flung into the air is coming from starlings in the bird bath, which is just below the feeder.)

I know the Russians didn't particularly like our bird feeders because of crazy episodes like this. I'm not sure how the new upstairs neighbors feel about them, but someone did come out and clap their hands at one point to scare the birds away, so they may not be thrilled either. We do get other, quieter birds -- tits, robins, the woodpecker -- so I don't want to put the feeders away completely, but even I will agree that the starlings are a bit over the top.

I thought I might have a second video for you, because I found a long-expired egg in the refrigerator (July 20) and boiled it to feed it to the foxes. It's sitting out there in the garden, with the camera trained on it, but the foxes didn't come around last night. Maybe we'll get lucky today or tonight.

Otherwise, yesterday was pretty quiet. I finished my Inspector Rebus mystery and washed a bunch of my shirts in preparation for the new school year. I also took stuff to charity and then reorganized the linen closet, during which I found more stuff for charity. So I have yet another bag going.

In the evening I re-watched one of my favorite movies, "The Year of Living Dangerously" with Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver. Mel certainly was a looker in his youth. It's a shame he's become such a loon.