BOTH C (2011) Starlings Sturnus vulgaris kleptoparasitising godwits Limosa spp. LIMOSA 84 (1): 32-36.

Birds forage in different ways and within species there can be quite some flexibility in foraging behaviour depending on ecological conditions. Here I describe how European Starlings kleptoparasitise on Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits in the summer of 2010 on the island of Terschelling. At least four individual Starlings specialised on stealing prey caught by the godwits while foraging on meadows. They sometimes took prey items out the bills during handling by the godwits or chased them away from sites where they found a prey item. The godwits seemed to be aware of the threat posed by the Starlings since they chased Starlings coming too close. This is not the first observation of kleptoparasitism by Starlings, although it is probably rare. My hypothesis for why they performed this behaviour is that the spring and summer of 2010 were exceptionally dry, causing soil-dwelling invertebrates to be out of reach for foraging Starlings. #### Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa

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