Thursday, March 25, 1999
Birds clutter skies
Starlings roost in Springdale
BY MARIE McCAIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SPRINGDALE — If your evening commute takes you anywhere near Ohio 4 and Interstate 275, you may be wondering whether some Hitchcock-wannabe is remaking the 1963 film The Birds.
Rest easy, the classic film is safe. But the cleanliness of your car may be in danger.
Flocks of European starlings have taken roost in the area and are cluttering the dusk skies like black clouds.
Experts say the small, glossy, purple-black bodied birds with the long yellow beaks have stopped here as part of their regular migratory route along the Ohio Valley.
Springdale Public Works Superintendent Dave Butsch said he's seen the birds every year for the last nine years — as long as he's worked with the city.
“This lasts for a few weeks, and then it tapers off,” he said, adding that the birds mostly gather in groves of trees surrounding Showcase Cinemas on Ohio 4.
James Allen, who was visiting a friend's home on Peak Drive earlier this week, said he has wondered for years about the birds.
He said he has seen “hundreds” of them flying in great swarms near highways, particularly I-275.
Bill Creasey, chief naturalist for the Cincinnati Nature Center, compared the flying pattern to “a school of fish” in the water.
The flocks should dissipate as spring progresses and the breeding season begins, he said.
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