Spot on

We were searching for the Rose Coloured Starling at Caister on Sea once more the other day; searching among the thousands of Starlings. Many of the birds have now acquired breeding plumage with pale bills and heavily spotted plumage. The same plumage once gave rise to an old lady telephoning and telling me she had a Nutcracker on her lawn. When Starlings look like this it’s easy to see why she (and others before her and since) made the misidentification.

As we walked the backstreets of Caister the light was magnificent, enabling the pastel colours at the base of the bills to easily be seen; males having blue and females appropriately pink! Just look at the male below, he puffed out his throat feathers and sang his heart out in the afternoon sunshine.