Taxis run across my feet

There have been a few starlings in the yard for awhile now but today there are more than twenty.  Mamas with shiny black feather and bright yellow speckles.  And babies with puffy grey feathers, fat with down, stretching their necks up and opening their beaks as their mothers feed them.  The hatchlings have taken over the yard, splashing in the birdbath and eating as fast as I can refill the feeders.   In the morning when I left for work they were standing in a line with their beaks open, squalling to be fed.  By afternoon they'd learned to perch on the feeder and peck at the suet themselves.  Each time they fly from the tree to the feeder and back, they fly with more confidence and strength.  I imagine in a few days they'll be all grown up, and leave their families and find new homes.

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