In the last week or so I've been lucky enough to have a couple of mistle thrushes visit my garden while the snow was thick on the ground, attracted apparently by the dish of water I've been careful to provide daily (very good tip, thanks RSPB) while my pond is frozen. I'm very glad to say they carried on visiting after the thaw and during my BGB hour this morning - but watching the birds so intently for that hour revealed a behaviour I wasn't aware of before, which appears to be an almost psychopathic hatred of starlings!
I'm used to the blackbirds and robins fighting amongst themselves, and for most other birds to disappear when ceratin bigger birds like woodpeckers are around, but today whenever a starling would appear and try to feed the mistlethrushes went for it in a big way, chasing it all round the garden until it flew off. Even when they weren't obvious as soon as the starling appeared a thrush would arrive as if by magic and chase it away again!
I can't help wondering what would have happened if the starling had turned up mob-handed with a dozen pals as they normally do every day when I'm NOT doing a count for the BGB (they know, they just know) - an avian version of West Side Story, maybe? Rumble!