Starlings by the hundreds

[yak]

 Yesterday evening, I was driving on Long Island within a few miles of the NYC border . I looked up and I saw the biggest flock of starlings that I've ever seen. I've seen big flocks before, but never like this. It reminded me of a crow roost. Flock after flock flew into the trees and joined each other.If they were in a legal hunting area it would have been airgun pest hunting heaven, but there's no hunting there.

Are they on the increase, or did I just never pay that much attention before.

[Ol'DeadEye]

I've had the unnerving good fortune of watching a large, growing flock roost in my neighborhood for months.
I just hope a good number will come to my backyard to feed this winter.
I'm ready for them, and so are "my" hawks.

Picture of part of the flock, picture from my front door and picture of my cleanup crew.

[JoeV]

When I was stationed in Adana, Turkey back in 1970-72, we would get migratory flocks settle at night in the trees surrounding our barracks. The noise was deafening with thousands upon thousands of starlings filing the trees and covering the ground with their droppings. Turkish military would come around with shotguns and fire into the trees to kill and scare them off. The stench from the droppings was terrible, and the huge flocks created problems on the flight line for pilots during migration time.

On the plus side, the views of huge flocks was always a rare sight to behold. Here's a what we would frequently see...

[yak]

I saw even more, in the same trees, around sunset yesterday. I sure hope that they fly east to some hunting areas. I always leave my hunting spots in the earl afternoon, maybe I should stay later to see of the starlings gather like that out there.