Noisy, garrulous, roving about in large groups and sometimes a bit comical to look at – I wasn’t in Galway last week so I don’t know how the students behaved during Rag Week. The city is still standing so they can’t have been too bad. As for their feathered equivalents – starlings (sturnus vulgaris, druid as Gaeilge) – one can forgive them a lot given their beautiful plumage. This one was one of a group mooching for food beside the lobster pots on the pier in the Claddagh on Saturday morning.
Here is a poem by Philip Casey called Starling – the link also an amazing clips of huge flocks of starlings flying at sunset.
Thanks for the link, John, and for reminding me of the great starling video. Thanks also for this lovely photo of such an enigmatic bird.
They are my favourite birds, something that is a source of ridicule at home, since they are seen as common, non-indigenous “invasive” species, and almost like vermin in the U.S. But I love their cockiness, and the colours in this photo — and the great control of focus and depth of field — really captures their beauty. Thank you!
Soo cool…both your photo and the video…