Great article - do more. Maybe one about the eels, inanga, or lizards. By the way, Lower Hutt's starlings also roost in the big Phoenix Palms opposite the Hutt Library and by the gym/riverbank.

An excellent informative article thanks Dompost.

There are also 100s of starlings that occupy the pohutukawa trees in the Michael Fowler Centre carpark in the CBD. And in Tawa the starlings seem to head for the overhead steelwork and transmission towers of the substation at the top of Takapu valley.

Always interested to learn about my fine feathered friends - well sort of. As a bird phobic I feel reasonably attuned to bird activity. My theory is that if they stick to their knitting then I'll do likewise, ie natives in the bush - me in the city. Generally we muddle along okay, except for pigeons, magpies and the odd low flying sparrow. I knew about the mass gatherings at dusk in the CBD, but not sure where all the filthy pigeons go (presume most of them find ledges, nooks and crannies at night?). What I don't understand is why so many of them seem to have deformed feet? A friend (knowing my phobic ways) sent me a text the other day to say she had just seen a pigeon on Lambton Quay with no feet at all. Quite disgusting - what the heck happened there? My plea to the masses is: PLEASE STOP FEEDING THE PIGEONS. They're not cute, interesting or necessary and I don't want them flapping around my face while I'm trying to have a cuppa and a sandwhich.

Thank you so much, this is a great article. Answers so many of the questions we've always had but thought nobody had ever bothered to find out the answers to. Wonderful!

Sparrows doing a cost/benefit analysis! - Priceless!

My question is ...Where do birds go when they die? All the millions of birds and I would have thought the countryside would be littered with their deceased. Hardly seen one.

One other reason birds are thought to gather at roosts is that these serve effectively as points for the transfer of information about food sources, especially if these tend to be variable or short-lived. Of course, the information is not transferred in any deliberate way but passively, with those individuals that might have had a tough time finding food the previous day, watching where those that were more successful tend to go, then following them. If the food source proves insufficient to support the birds that go to it that day, then they may become the followers the next.

Great journalism! This article was not only refreshing, but it also carries a whole lot more research and actuality compared to most of the news on the front pages nowadays. To the author: if your childhood dream was to become a reporter or journalist, congratulations I think you have achieved it :) :) Unlike some paraphrasers from AP News items who pretend to be real reporters.

Love this article. To some it may be boring, but I think it's fascinating, and a welcome change to reading of all the awful things happening around the country. Thanks.

Thanks for such a cool article. Wish more journalists would write about their natural, immediate environment

love the native birds and blackbirds but the flocks of starlings are a pest. They make an awful mess where they roost. Wish there was a way to get rid of them without harming beneficial birds!