Young starlings trying to eat peanuts - Funny birds!

Last spring, I filmed a family of starlings who had landed on our bird feeder. I have posted the HD video on Youtube Young Starlings trying to eat peanuts. You are welcome to have a look. It only lasts a couple of minutes. The young birds were trying to pick up some peanuts while waiting for their parents to feed them. They did not know how to use their beaks properly and kept flicking the peanuts in the air. Juveniles are easy to differentiate from the adults as they have brown-grey plumage and a big mouth! :-). The parents, on the other hand, look black, although when you look closer, you can see they have green and purple glossy feathers.

Did you know that most (but not all!) birds are not able to see things in three dimensions like we humans do? Their eyes are located on either side of their heads. They have, what we call, monocular vision. This is something you can see well in this clip. You can see the birds leaning their heads to the side. They are actually trying to look at the peanuts on the metal tray.

I only realised this a few years back when I was digging my vegetable patch. A robin would keep me company waiting for easy food to grab while I was not looking. One day, it was perched high on a branch a couple of metres away from me. I picked up a worm and threw it towards him. Although startled at first, he realised that he was in no danger and remained on the branch. I kept throwing worms (sorry worms, but it was for the good of Science!) in its direction and then I realised that the robin was tilting its head sideways and down following the worm with one eye.

Anyway, you will see below a few still pictures taken from my video.

Where is Mummy?

Me! Me first!

 

Getting crowded here

But! Where is everybody?