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Starling

Started by Traditionalist, October 25, 2011, 12:51:04 PM

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Traditionalist

This bird is one of the most useful birds of all to the flydresser. I have recently heard that it is becoming more and more difficult to procure these bird skins. If you can´t get a skin, or you would prefer to use a substitute anyway, then you might like to try using hen hackle for various things. You can use webby hen hackle for lots of things, but it is now also very difficult to obtain! Genetic hen hackle is quite useless for such purposes usually, as it is too thin and wispy, and has virtually no web. "Better" than some cock hackle one was were once obliged to use! Hardly anybody keeps hens any more either! At least not in comparison to some years ago, and feathers from battery hens are useless for anything at all.

If you do dye a substitute, and depending on what you actually want to substitute it for, then webby red hen would be ideal in some respects, as I firmly believe that red or orange colours overdyed are more attractive, ( would be excellent over-dyed dark iron blue, for Baillies [ Stewart´s ] black spider! but it would not be exactly like starling! For a better colour substitute for starling neck and body, you would need to dye webby white hen dark iron blue dun. Or dye it black, and overdye it with light blue to give it a blue "sheen", or "green ", or "purple", depending on what you were looking for. Actually, stroking a black hackle with the appropriate marker would probably be better still. This would not of course substitute for the covert and undercovert feathers!

If you can get good webby hen hackles, then they are quite often as good as the original bird hackles, but not always! They often differ considerably in mobility and texture. I don´t use many substitutes, mostly just to try them out in fact, as I still have plenty of original feathers for most things.

This is a young starling skin with a very brown tinge.






As Starlings vary considerably, I like to have a good selection. These are all cock birds. of various ages and states of plumage.



Starling neck and breast hackles are fragile in comparison to many other feathers. This is why various tricks were used to tie them in. Twisting the feather around the thread is one such trick. It is also often quite webby.Older plumage hackles are less webby.The neck and body feathers are used for many soft hackle patterns.



The picture shows starling wings. Two pairs, top and bottom. The top two pairs have been dyed Iron Blue Dun, as a substitute for Blackbird wing feathers mainly, but of course when one dyes the whole wing, then the hackles are also iron blue! These also make good substitutes for various other things.

These pairs have been dyed appropriately to substitute for Dotterel (yellow), and Landrail.(Brown), other colours may also be used for other birds, like Swift, Green Plover, Golden Plover, etc etc. If you just want a few hackles for a particular pattern, then tint them with marker. Some of these bird skins are now becoming difficult to obtain.



The feathers on the right are natural ( undyed) starling primaries. from a mature cock bird. These feathers are the perfect "Dun" colour

One may use practically every feather from a starling, including the coverts and under coverts, but these are usually reserved for special patterns. The iridescent body feathers, with or without the brown/yellow tips ( which do not show on the finished fly, as they are too short to be tied in, and disappear from adult plumage anyway!), are used for many soft hackles. The undercoverts are also used for many things.

On juvenile and female skins, the neck and body feathers are even more fragile than on the adult cock birds. Many patterns call for an adult starling skin in full plumage. If the bird was culled at the wrong time, then the plumage is not very strong. Quite a few older patterns also call for young birds, barely fledged. These are now unobtainable.

Go here; http://stanwyck.com/Critters/Backyard/ scroll down to "starlings", and check the plumage of the juveniles etc.

This is an adult in full but still fairly early ( note the speckles)plumage;
http://www.klein.com/dvk/photos/birds/starling.jpg

This is a younger bird;
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/htmsl/h4930pi.jpg

Go here for an explanation of the plumage changes in starling;
http://www.backyardnature.net/birdplum.htm

and why some of the feathers are practically black/purple/green iridescent, and some have whitish yellow brown tips .The dark feathers on an older starling ( older plumage) are the best for many things. But one can use the light tipped ones as well, they are simply more delicate.

A mature starling with practically black ( but iridescent) feathers= late plumage;
http://www.stanford.edu/~petelat1/starling.jpg

Unfortunately, as you can see, any old starling skin will not necessarily be what you want, but few people select the skins nowadays, even if they knew what to look for. For many patterns the dark late plumage of an adult starling is called for. One can use the others as well, but this may be difficult to the point of well nigh impossible. The plumage on the back is also often still speckled, even in a late plumage adult. The breast and neck are of the most importance when selecting.

The old time dressers were extremely particular about selecting starling hackles. The main selection tool being an 8mm "garden gun", often home made, and using light shot driven by black powder! One last perhaps rather depressing point, from the large number of commercially available skins I have handled in the last few years, I would have thrown 99 out of a hundred away as being unsuitable. You can use practically any and all starling feathers, but some are indeed really poor. people often say that the fish maybe dont care much, and this may be true to a point, but the better materials are invariably nicer and easier to use, and the results are invariably better as a consequence.

At one time, forty years ago now, these birds would fly around in huge flocks, and did a great deal of damage. They were often referred to as "flying rats". Even the towns had very large populations. They were killed by the thousands , using any and all methods, trapping, poisoning, netting, shooting, gassing, you name it! The skins were to be had for the asking, and a little work. I remember once buying a hundred starlings for 5 shillings, (a dollar maybe), and skinning the ones I found suitable. A very good fly-dresser of my acquaintance taught me what to look for. Even then many people were not aware of what makes a good starling skin.

Unlike many other wild birds and animals used for fly dressing, although they are all subject to very considerable variation of course, some more than others, the grouse also being a case in point, the starling is subject to massive plumage changes at various times of the year, age of the bird, etc etc. The only really reliable way to select such stuff is to cull it yourself at the appropriate time and place. The dealers etc are not really at fault, they just buy a load of starling skins, and as these are cheap, and sell for the same price, regardless of quality, there is no point in even trying to select them.

I am only aware of one single knowledgeable high quality source at this time, ( that is not to say there are no others) and that is Steve Cooper, of Cookshill Tying materials He has supplied me reliably with quite magnificent materials in the past. This may be a trifle more expensive than buying the "run of the mill" stuff, but not excessively so, and the rewards of using first class material, selected by an expert, are immediately obvious upon use. The flies still only cost a fraction of what they would cost when tied with a first class genetic hackle. I have tied several hundred flies from a single starling skin for instance. Bought for a dollar at most, So the materials are not really even a consideration financially, the hooks cost a great deal more!

One of the main advantages of starling and similar hackles, is that you can get hackles SMALL enough from them to tie down to size 18 or so. This is more or less impossible with many other soft hackles, without resorting to various tricks. Many of the dressers/anglers I knew in Yorkshire very rarely used anything other than 16´ s , although one or two even went up to size 10 on some flies.

Adult late plumage, showing iridescence;
http://www.wingwatchers.com/images2/starling.jpg

This is quite rare, but does happen;
http://www.homepages.mcb.net/wormwell/Albino%20Starling.jpg

I have two such skins, one dyed medium olive, the other split in two halves and dyed red brown, and amber orange.

Mature late plumage adult singing, shows neck hackles very well;
http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au/images/Starling_Common_Dabb.jpg

Juvenile starling, either bred in captivity or ringed shortly after hatching;
http://www.planetthanet.org/images/2005%20Folder/June%202005/June%2027th%202005/Ringed%20Juvenile%20Starling.jpg


That ought to suffice for selection purposes. Quite a few of the old books etc specify what stage of the bird, and what specific feather to use. Patterns which merely state "starling hackle" are just about useless, unless one has a picture or other reference, as there is no way of knowing what is then required. One of the reasons that Skues and others considered the bird indispensable, was the fact that at various stages the various feathers can be used as substitutes for a whole host of things, and one may also dye the wings readily to substitute even more things. Just in case it was not obvious, even the pale tipped body feathers will not give you pale tipped hackles, as the tip is too small and fine to be of any use. When wound in, one only sees the black/iridescent part of the hackle. If you want pale tipped hackles, then you need to use the wing coverts and undercoverts.

What you choose as a hackle, depends what you want to use it for. For many soft hackle patterns a late plumage adult male bird is the best. In most cases such birds are at their peak just before and during the mating season. The exact times vary of course around the globe.

TL
MC

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