Starlings in your trees? Blame Shakespeare

There are an estimated 200 million starlings in North America -- all of them descendants of the 100 birds let loose in New York's Central Park in 1890 by a well-intentioned society dedicated to introducing into America all of the birds mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare. If the bard of Avon could see what this handiwork hath wrought, he would roll over in his grave.

Each year, in cities across the continent, huge congregations of starlings disrupt local peace and harmony by roosting in tree-lined neighborhoods. They gather in open areas too, but no one notices or cares.

Getting rid of these migrating starlings isn't easy -- or cheap. Repellents are expensive. Frightening devices create as much bedlam as the birds themselves. Traps work, but what would you do with thousands of trapped starlings? Ditto for poison and a truckload of starling carcasses.

Moreover, any successful attempt to shoo the starlings from one area usually means they settle down somewhere else where they aren't wanted.

Residents of south Cape Girardeau who currently are overrun with starlings can take heart that the birds will move on. Eventually. In the meantime, other communities have discovered that grape flavoring repels starlings.

Shakespeare might have fancied the idea of dusting trees with grape Kool-Aid for one of his comedies.