Hi folks,
First I have to apologise to Ray for 'poaching' his subject but I couldn't very well put all this lot on his Thread. By which you may gather that it's about young birds bathing.
As I said on Ray's thread Starlings seem to be one of the species that really enjoy a bath. The other main one in our garden is Blackbirds and every now and then one (or more) of each want to use the bath at the same time. This doesn't seem to bother the Starlings who tend to bathe communally, and in fact seeing someone else in the bath seems to act as a signal to join in. Blackbirds seem more 'private', in fact I can't recall seeing more than one Blackbird bathing at a time, whatever age.
What all this is leading up to is that one of the Male Blackbirds had gone into the bath to start his ablutions when along came a young Starling to join in the fun (photo 1). Blackie was having none of it and tried to get rid of Junior (photo 2). Now at this point I would have bet on the Blackie, after all we're talking an Adult versus a Juv here. But no, Junior stood his ground and a disgruntled Blackie flew down to the ground below the Bath pedestal, then changed his mind and went back up, just in time to get a faceful of water (photo 3). With that Blackie pushed off and left Junior to enjoy himself (see photos in Part 2).
Bill
First I have to apologise to Ray for 'poaching' his subject but I couldn't very well put all this lot on his Thread. By which you may gather that it's about young birds bathing.
As I said on Ray's thread Starlings seem to be one of the species that really enjoy a bath. The other main one in our garden is Blackbirds and every now and then one (or more) of each want to use the bath at the same time. This doesn't seem to bother the Starlings who tend to bathe communally, and in fact seeing someone else in the bath seems to act as a signal to join in. Blackbirds seem more 'private', in fact I can't recall seeing more than one Blackbird bathing at a time, whatever age.
What all this is leading up to is that one of the Male Blackbirds had gone into the bath to start his ablutions when along came a young Starling to join in the fun (photo 1). Blackie was having none of it and tried to get rid of Junior (photo 2). Now at this point I would have bet on the Blackie, after all we're talking an Adult versus a Juv here. But no, Junior stood his ground and a disgruntled Blackie flew down to the ground below the Bath pedestal, then changed his mind and went back up, just in time to get a faceful of water (photo 3). With that Blackie pushed off and left Junior to enjoy himself (see photos in Part 2).
Bill
