Veteran birders and conservationists often despise non-native species such as starlings, house sparrows and pigeons. While I can understand their anger at those humans who thoughtlessly introduced these birds to North America, one has to admire the tenacity and adaptability of the birds themselves. Furthermore, much of their success is tied to non-native environments that man has created: city parks, landfills, feedlots and crop fields come to mind.
In this era of immigrant bashing, it is important to remember that humans are not native to North America. We evolved in Africa some 125,000 years ago and only reached this Continent about 25,000 years ago; even Native Americans are not truly native. We are all children of immigrants.
