Now that most of the swallows, swifts and nighthawks have departed for the south, European starlings are swooping across the mid-day sky, snaring insects that continue to thrive in the mild autumn weather. Though despised for a variety of reasons, these immigrants do play an important role when it comes to insect control.
Furthermore, starlings are agile fliers, as demonstrated by their aerial ballets over farm country. Watching them maneuver above our property, they are certainly as capable of feasting on flyings insects as the summer insectivores mentioned above.
Nature's complex web of life is flexible. When one predator moves on or succumbs to human activity, another takes its place, whether native or non-native.
