Starlings, and a discussion of reports of surprising and noisy measures taken to move large flocks of them south, dominated discussion during the regular monthly meeting of the Middleburg Town Council on Thursday, September 13.

Almost lost in the flutter was a soft-spoken, extraordinary report from Town Administrator Jerry Schiro, noting Salamander Hospitality's delivery of checks to the Middleburg treasury totaling more than a million dollars covering fees and bonding requirements linked to the ongoing development of its property on the northern edge of the Town.

Schiro also announced that, as part of his ongoing efforts to cut costs and rationalize the Town's administrative structure, the County had agreed to a one-year trial take-over of the administration of the Town's water and sewer services.

"Hysterical Behavior?"

Sally Bolton of The Corner Garden opened the "public comments" segment of the monthly meeting by expressing her "very deep concern" about "flocks of birds" that some members of our community "find so disturbing."

In fact, her concerns were less related to the birds than to the measures she feared were being taken, officially and non-officially, to move them away from residential areas.

Bolton first became alarmed, she said, when she noticed neighbors "hastily removing" leaves and crowns from three or four century-old maple trees during one of the worst droughts in years.