Could be that the starling is making an attempt to take the young plants to
the nest to freshen it up.

I too have starlings nesting in the corner ridge tile area of the house and
saw one of them swoop down and nick (at least)one of the young pansy plants
I had planted a couple of days previous. Went outside and it flew onto the
garage roof still with plant in its beak !

I have now placed wire netting on top of the remaining plants.

M
"Robin McInnes" wrote in message
...
We planted out a load of Zinnia Profusion (from T&M) on Saturday; by
this morning there was only one still left in. All the others had been
up-rooted by a starling that is nesting in one of our eave corners.

The bird isn't eating the plants, just uprooting them and leaving them
lying -roots exposed- on the border.

We also planted out various other bedding types, such as begonias, busy
lizzies etc, but the bird only seems interested in vandalising the
zinnias.

Most of the zinnias are now ruined and I suppose we'll just have to get
something else to replace them; there's really no other solution.

Perhaps I should be posting this query on a bird group, but I was
wondering whether starlings are known for uprooting zinnias, what is
their motive for doing so, and why should they single that particular
plant out for attention?

(And, if they are well known for such activity, can anyone tell me if
there are any other types of plant they vandalise, so I can avoid them
when choosing the replacements please?)

Cheers,
Robin McInnes
Cheshire, UK