By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Starlings are intelligent and adaptable birds and on the World Conservation Union list of the 100 worst invasive species, and they are wreaking havoc in the South Okanagan.
Tyrion Miskell, Executive Director at BC Grape Growers Association, provided information on the Starling Control Program to the Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen’s Environment and Infrastructure Committee on April 6.
They do a “phenomenal amount of damage to fruit in the Okanagan Valley,” Miskell explained. The program calculates the bird’s negative economic impact to be a 10 per cent loss of fruit.
She said they would never be able to eradicate the species but they are trying to control the population. They are celebrating 20 years of trapping this year which has been successful.
Starlings are not native to North America. In 1890 the American Acclimation Society brought 60 European Starlings to Central Park in New York City in pursuit of achieving their goal to bring all the birds in Shakespeare’s plays to North America.
These Starlings were first spotted in the Okanagan Valley in Oliver in 1945. Nests were discovered in Vernon in 1952, and it is thought that they became a successful breeding species from between 1952 and 1956.
They are now firmly established across the entire continent and here in the Okanagan they eat and cause a lot of damage to fruit trees, grape and berry crops. In addition to this they also spread diseases such as Salmonellosis, Chlamydiosis, John’s Disease, avian tuberculosis and histoplasmosis.
The birds are also known to be very aggressive competitors and take over nests that would otherwise be used by bluebirds and other native songbirds.
RDOS photo.
