We arrived about mid-morning at a council estate next to some open parkland and fields. But it was the concrete jungle that we would be focussed upon. It is an understatement to say that there were Starlings everywhere. On every house, tree, aerial. The roofs were also littered with House Sparrows, mixed in amongst them. What was worse was that the sun was behind the birds, so only silhouettes could be seen at the time. From talking to a huddled group of birders, we learnt that the bird in question had been seen but only briefly that morning, and many left empty handed. So, we started driving around its main haunts, Margaret, Dispenser and Wenlock Roads (along with some others around them), scrutinising every Starling flock we came to. But still no Rose-Coloured. We then entered a dream-like state. We scoured the same roads again and again, doing different routes of them at the next opportunity. Locals watched our continuous revolutions with interest. As we drove round, we met the same people about three or four times, whether they be the general public or birders.
We then parked just outside the estate and enjoyed a break with a banana and a KitKat. Whilst we sat there, watching a small streams progress, we saw Mallard, Collared Dove, an assortment of Crows and again the dreaded Starlings. After a while, we drove back and parked in the centre of the roads. We overhead a local man talking to some birds about how the Starling had come and sat opposite his house on many occasions. Therefore, we drove into his road and parked at the corner. The sun was in the right position and there was an abundance of Starling around. We looked at the gentleman's neighbours house, whose roof held mainly Sparrows. Suddenly a flock appeared on his aerial and I caught sight of a bird who wasn't Sparrow like in shape nor dark enough for a Starling. Hurriedly reaching for my camera, I took a few shots, which revealed the bird to be the much paler and unique juvenile Rose-Coloured Starling!
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| Starlings on the opposite rooftop |
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| The juvenile Rose-Coloured Starling (the far left bird) |
Even though it was a juvenile, it had such lovely colour to it. We managed to alert other birder in the road to it, before it flew off with the rest of the flock. I believe that the day we saw it was the last day it was seen, so we were lucky enough to get it just in time. Congratulating ourselves, we then headed off back home for some bird seed from Webbs as well as some well served lunch.
