A very special bird
The Starling Sturnus vulgaris is a well known representative of the Passeriformes Order, Sturnidae Family. Small-medium sized bird, characterized by a long and sharp beak and short helmsman, with a dark livery with metallic reflections, the Cancellation colonizes a vast range of European habitats, from open countryside to urban centers, where it gladly meets in very numerous colonies, especially in the autumn-winter period. It escapes only the high mountain environments, from which the contingents of autumn pass pass, but without stopping. Instead, it is a common sight for the inhabitants of many of our cities, to observe sometimes gigantic flocks, composed of thousands of subjects, which perform synchronous evolutions in the skies lit by the lights of the sunset, thus preparing to descend on the night dormitories (squares and tree-lined avenues, squares of railway stations, parks and gardens).
Reproductive period and more
It has been lost count of how many times the square of Termini Station in Rome rose to the fore for the abundant number of starlings who, staying overnight on the holm oaks present there, made the asphalt a slippery and dangerous trap due to the so much scattered guano : problem solved by the Municipality by replacing most of the trees with smaller ones, which at the moment no longer attract birds due to their small size. In the cities, the starlings also love to crowd and feed on the most typical urban trees, those with hackberry Celtis australis, whose blackish colored berries with a sour taste are widely sought after by many species of avifauna. However, the Starling is present in our country also during the reproductive period, therefore as nesting, building nests and raising the offspring - from four to eight eggs per brood and generally two broods a year - very often in the ravines of the walls, in the ancient monuments or under the tiles of the roofs. It can be said, similarly to what happens for many other species of more or less common birds, that the Starling is present with mixed populations, from sedentary to migratory ones, passing through partially migratory ones, that is, they carry out migratory movements of a limited range, almost always stressed by adverse climatic conditions and relative scarcity of trophic resources.
A disaster for agriculture
The scientific literature attests that the breeding populations in Southern Europe, including Italy, are increasing, while the opposite trend would concern the breeding contingents in central-northern Europe, ultimately giving an overall balance that is not particularly favorable to the species. although this appears contradictory for an average observer, who only dwells on the demographic situation of the species here. The strong gregarious instinct of the Storno is also that characteristic that makes it potentially a calamity for agriculture, in particular for orchards, vineyards and olive groves, that is the specialized crops of greater commercial value. In fact, this species prefers grapes, olives and seasonal fruit, while in spring-summer, given its omnivorous regime, it devotes itself more to insects, earthworms and other small invertebrates, which it captures in stable meadows and herbaceous soils. uncultivated, preferably after a recent mowing, a necessary source of protein for weaning the broods. Other foods appetite for Starling are wild berries and fruits, such as hackberry, ivy, American phytolacca, Canadian grapes just to name a few, but also pasture in chopped corn stubble, on meadows and pastures and on land recently. plowed.
Exclusion from hunting
Such a vast food spectrum and its high environmental plasticity are undoubtedly the strengths of this bird, which favor its spread and have led it to be classified among the species now defined as "opportunistic" or "invasive" for which they can be numerical control plans prepared also outside the hunting season. The discourse of hunting, with the Starling is instead complex. Huntable in Italy until 1997, when he was excluded from the list referred to in art. 18 of law 157/92 with DPCM (Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers) together with some other species, the Starling has since been at the center of the fluctuating story of the withdrawal in derogation as per Directive 2009/147 / for many years. EC "Birds", which we do not dwell on now given the tangled regulatory situation and the complex jurisprudence that has been consolidated, both in administrative justice, in the Constitutional Court and in the European Court of Justice itself. Unfortunately, the problem of damage to agricultural production remains felt and present, the reduction of which would certainly be facilitated by being able to hunt the Starling normally, without having to resort to different measures, always exposed to appeals and which, with their thousands of prescriptions, do not entice hunters. to become active in controlling the species.
The most profitable hunt
The Starling, as long as it was huntable, gave rise to traditional, specific and also very elaborate forms of hunting: for example, it played and would still play the leading role in the practice of the so-called “meadow” hunting. Being a species that loves open places, used to living in large groups, always vigilant with respect to what happens in the surroundings thanks also to the "sentinels" who settle on high perches, it is understandable that the most profitable hunting is that from huts, fixed or temporary, using live calls (when they were allowed). Very useful additional aids - always, obviously, when they could be used - such as the carousels bearing hanging from the ends of the starlings stuffed with open wings or plastic molds in the same posture, as well as the same molds suitably arranged on the ground in generous quantities. The shed must naturally be expertly concealed, precisely because, being in ground free of vegetation, it would be very disturbing if it suddenly stood out: the ideal would be to approach it to hedges or bushes, or to hide it inside ditches or hollows. of the soil.
Runner and gabions
Another expedient suggested by experience, which helps to convince the starlings to fall on the carefully set up game, is to position appropriately next to the molds of the species also other molds of birds linked to the open areas, such as the Hooded Crow and the Lapwing, which usually feed on the same sites together with the Starling and vice versa. In the fixed stalking of the Turdidae, the artificial positioning of "buckets" on the main throw plants, which the Starling chooses to settle once attracted by the calls, assumes great effectiveness. The latter played (and would play) an important, indeed vital role: so much so that there was no shed for starlings that did not make use of the so-called "runner", long and narrow net tubes positioned on the ground, inside which numerous decoy specimens were let yourself be free to move by running and fluttering back and forth, with great attracting effect on the wild. Equally effective are the gabions, of generous dimensions, also containing many recalling specimens, free to move and, above all, to be heard with a strong and attractive chatter. Stray hunting, on the other hand, would give the hunter very little chance of success, unless the visibility conditions are such - as happens with fog - to allow an approach up to the shooting range of the birds placed on the ground or on the trees. .
Species of hunting interest
If anything, having identified the pastures frequented by these suspicious birds, to be able to obtain some results it is possible to set up a temporary shed or even just hide among the natural vegetation, waiting for the opportunity to shoot and in these conditions, together with the Starling , blackbirds or thrushes can also be embodied. Ultimately, treating the Storno as a species of hunting interest is not easy, given the continuous intersection of the reasoning plans between what belongs to the past and what belongs to today, between what was done and what in the future would not mind doing. again. Even if the species is granted in derogation, the game bag limits must be strictly respected by virtue of the particularity of this collection regime, although this apparently clashes with the need to put a stop to the populations, which would require being able to kill them. unlimited numbers. We will see if, thanks to the return of a minimum of reasonableness, this paradox of Italian hunting can be finally healed sooner or later. (source: ANUU)
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