Bard's Sole Starling Mention Plagues Capitol Hill

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

IF THE RESIDENTS OF 1600 POTOMAC AVE. SE know their Shakespeare, they should detest "Henry IV." Why? Throughout the Bard's work, there are many references to birds, from eagles and larks to woodcocks and wrens.

But "Henry IV," pictured at right, contains Shakespeare's only reference to the starling. As the story goes, an American Shakespeare enthusiast, Eugene Scheifflin, wanted to introduce all of the avian creatures mentioned in the great playwright's work to the United States, and decided that the starling's solitary mention was enough justification to release a flock of the birds in New York City's Central Park. Since then, their North American population has exploded and the birds are now considered urban pests.

Those living on Potomac Avenue near Congressional Cemetery certainly know that. As The Post's Darragh Johnson reports, the 1600 block has become a "site fidelity" — a term ornithologists use to describe a "genetically imprinted" roosting site. And the "bird bombs" dropped daily are driving residents batty as District officials scratch their heads about what can be done to scatter the starlings.

One can only hope that there is nobody by the name of "Mortimer" living on the affected block.

» "Life Is Pure Hitchcock on Block of Capitol Hill" [WaPo]
» "European Starlings" [Starling Talk]
» "Starling" [Birds of the Bard]

Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post