Rescuing a starling trapped in our bird feeder

This morning I heard a strange commotion outside the studio window, From the corner of my eye, I could see that the transparent bird feeder appeared to be moving on its own. On close inspection I discovered that the incredibly boisterous and greedy young starlings we have round here had smashed the lid off the feeder with their sharp pointy little beaks. Worse, one greedy little beggar had jumped inside and was stuck. Its pointy beak was trapped beneath the rim. So I went outside and attempted a rescue.

The feeder has a slight lip, over which it was very hard to move this tiny creature’s beak, without breaking its neck. So very slowly and gently I eased its beak round with my finger, so its beak just cleared the lip. I then slowly inverted the feeder so the starling could slide out. As it emerged, it flapped its wings, flew a few metres, turned mid-air and swore at me, then flew away at-speed, into the ether…