I wanted to thank Railow GIll, Gurmail and Mohinder Dhaliwal for raising over $6,000 from Similkameen cherry growers for starling control. Without these three men acting as fundraisers, the local starling program would never have gotten off the ground, and we would not have been able to hire a trapper to assist with what the RDOS was already doing.
As of August 31, Robert Quaedvlieg had trapped 4,781 birds, 1,074 adults and 3,707 juveniles. This was 3,486 more birds than were trapped in 2010. I have heard from several growers who say their fruit damage wasn’t nearly as bad in 2011as in 2010, so I think the local program can take some credit for this success.
There is still more work to be done through the winter. This is the season in which to concentrate on adult populations, reducing their numbers and thereby limiting the number of nesting pairs (each pair of adults will raise five or more offspring). There is also ongoing in-migration from Princeton / Merritt / Tulameen and Oliver. So, trapping appears to be a year round job.
About $10,000 is needed to run the local program all year.
If there are any grape, apple or cherry growers who benefitted from the Similkameen starling control, but did not pay the per acre fee of $5 per acre for apples, $10 acre for grapes and cherries, please call Robert Quaedvlieg at 250-499-7033, or Cawston Cold Storage at 250-499-7777 to make a donation ... or report a flock of starlings!
Thanks to all who contributed to the program.
by Fred Danenhower