SALT LAKE CITY — Had Shakespeare not mentioned the starling in the third scene of “Henry IV,” arguably the most hated bird in North America might never have arrived.
In the early 1890s, about 100 European starlings were released in New York City’s Central Park by a group dedicated to bringing to America every bird ever mentioned by Shakespeare.
Today, it’s more like Hitchcock. About 200 million shiny black European starlings crowd North America. The enormous flocks endanger air travel, mob cattle operations, chase off native songbirds and roost on city blocks, leaving behind corrosive, foul- smelling droppings and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage each year.
And getting rid of them is near impossible.
Last year U.S. government agents poisoned, shot and trapped 1.7 million starlings, more than any other nuisance species, according to new figures, only to see them roaring back again.
“It’s sort of like bailing the ocean with a thimble,” said Richard Dolbeer, a retired Wildlife Services researcher.
