European starling

Starlings get a lot of hate, some of which is fair enough: they’re voracious crop-eaters and sometimes nest saboteurs of cuter and more popular native birds. But it has always seemed strange to me to direct the vitriol about invasives to the organisms themselves, as if they meant to be here, as if it wasn’t our fault.

I can’t fault the starlings for their hunger, any more than I can fault any other invasive for being alive where they've found themselves. They’re just trying to do what all living things are trying to do: to bloom where they are planted. Would it have been better if they’d been left in their native environments? Of course, but they’re here now. There’s no easy answer to any of this, but it feels saner and kinder to me to see a starling and feel something more nuanced than 'ugh'.