Wednesday 22 January 2020

Curious feeding behaviour by starling

A starling started feeding on residue from a fat-ball bucket that I put on a flat stone in my Aberystwyth garden. Once it had eaten the larger fragments in the usual pecking manner, it ate the powdery remains by turning its head sideways and scooping it up with the side of its beak. This method of feeding is not mentioned in BWP, and I wonder whether it was a one-off invention or a habitual method - and what else would it use it for? 

 Arthur Chater.