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Frozen food
Thousands of starlings come here every winter,
some from as far away as Russia. They come to escape the cold
winters, and especially frozen ground. To feed, a starling sticks
its beak in to the ground, and then opens it to make a
hole.
A starling's eyes swivel to point forward so it
can see if there's a tasty insect grub in the hole. But when the
ground freezes a starling can't push its beak in. And even if it
could, it would find that most of the grubs have dug themselves in
that bit deeper to avoid the frost.
At this point, the starling switches to berries,
seeds and grain. It's harder to digest these so the starling's gut
grows longer in the winter to get the most out of its
food.