The Awesomeness of European Starlings
Sep. 27th, 2010 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morneaOver here in the States, the European Starling is a very successful invasive species. They've taken over habitat other birds need. Exterminators are hired to remove them from house siding, and they are generally considered pests.
Starlings are excellent parents, and have cohesive families-- that's why they are so successful. And while I agree any invasive species is a problem, I can't help but admire Starlings.
Did you know they are related to myna birds, and can speak clearly if around human language? They also can put learned words together to communicate in a simple fashion, much as African Grey Parrots can.
I know this in part due to a fascinating web site: www.starlingtalk.com. But also because I have residing with me two European Starlings, "Bird" and "Charlie".
Bird came to us first. My daughter found the fledgling on the lawn of our local Catholic Church, Saint Peter's. She brought him home as he was too young to fly. I made her take him back. It's normal for fledglings to spend a few days on the ground, and parents are still caring for them-- so it's usually a bad idea to take a fledgling in unless it's in clear danger. She put him back on the lawn of Saint Peter's, and we watched from a distance for several hours. There were no parents-- no other starlings came to care for him in that time. His age was about nine or ten days, and at that age the birds are usually fed every twenty minutes or so. For whatever reason, his parents were absent. So he came home with us.
Rehabbers usually do not take Starlings in, or if they do, they euthanize them due to the invasive status. This is the case in my area, so I was not about to take him to a rehabber. Thanks to the Starling Talk website, I knew the correct diet to give a baby bird (it's NOT bread and milk, as many people seem to think. Birds are not mammals-- no milk. And baby birds do not drink water-- giving them a liquid can cause pneumonia). We mixed up the dry dogfood/catfood based diet, adding just a little water to the ground dry food, making a thick paste, and fed it to him on the end of a straw. He ate like a little pig, and he survived with us.
Now taking in an animal is a long term committment. Once the bird is acclimated to humans, he cannot be released back into the wild. Birds that are so released usually die, because they have not been taught to survive in the wild. Yes, parent birds teach the young ones what animals to avoid, what to eat, what not to eat. It's not all instinct. So I knew this little bird would be with us a long time.
Did I say his name was "bird"? His name is actually Francis Damien Xavier Bob Anthony the third. My daughter thought he ought to have "a good Catholic name" being he was found on the Church lawn. So that's his official name. We have always called him "Bird."
When Bird was about five months old, my husband heard him say "Kiss, kiss!" That was the little cad's first word. Since then he's added "C'mere!" "Worm!" "Cena!" (that's latin for "dinner") "You're so good." and "Go to sleep, bird" among other phrases. He also does quite a nice cell phone ring.
We'd had Bird a year when I was contacted by another person who had taken in a wild Starling. This person could no longer care for her bird, Charlie. She wanted to make sure he was with someone who knew how to take care of Starlings. She drove 200 miles to bring me Charlie.
Charlie was with us a short while when we realized he was a 'she'. Bird is male (DNA tested). But they are not interested in each other-- Bird appears to have imprinted on my daughter's feet, and the feet are what command his romantic attention. He and Charlie do "talk" at the same time, but are in separate adjacent flight cages. Both get time out (not at the same time) and fly around my den. Charlie likes to watch TV and if you are in the way, she screams "I CAN'T SEE!" If she wants to go to sleep and we're still watching TV, she'll say "Go to sleep, it's time to sleep." She also makes a perfect "find handset" sound she picked up from our cordless phone.
I really enjoy these birds. They are very intelligent, very attached to us, their flock. But they are wild. I don't recommend going out to find a 'pet' starling. Like any wild animal they have habits that would serve them in the wild. Bird will bite, and hard, if he's irritated. They can peck us also. They have never caused injury (and their beak is not strong enough to cause serious injury unless they pecked a sensitve spot like an eye), but we always exercise some reasonable caution when they are out.
As I type now, Bird is saying "Hello bird" and blowing me kisses ... actually just as I typed that he wolf whistled. I guess his first words, "Kiss, kiss" were indicating a behavior pattern. :)
You can see Bird on youtube, though he's not talking. I put the camera on and he shuts up, of course. If you search youtube for "talking starling" you will find some others, and yes, that's really them talking.
You can see Bird HERE.
Starlings are excellent parents, and have cohesive families-- that's why they are so successful. And while I agree any invasive species is a problem, I can't help but admire Starlings.
Did you know they are related to myna birds, and can speak clearly if around human language? They also can put learned words together to communicate in a simple fashion, much as African Grey Parrots can.
I know this in part due to a fascinating web site: www.starlingtalk.com. But also because I have residing with me two European Starlings, "Bird" and "Charlie".
Bird came to us first. My daughter found the fledgling on the lawn of our local Catholic Church, Saint Peter's. She brought him home as he was too young to fly. I made her take him back. It's normal for fledglings to spend a few days on the ground, and parents are still caring for them-- so it's usually a bad idea to take a fledgling in unless it's in clear danger. She put him back on the lawn of Saint Peter's, and we watched from a distance for several hours. There were no parents-- no other starlings came to care for him in that time. His age was about nine or ten days, and at that age the birds are usually fed every twenty minutes or so. For whatever reason, his parents were absent. So he came home with us.
Rehabbers usually do not take Starlings in, or if they do, they euthanize them due to the invasive status. This is the case in my area, so I was not about to take him to a rehabber. Thanks to the Starling Talk website, I knew the correct diet to give a baby bird (it's NOT bread and milk, as many people seem to think. Birds are not mammals-- no milk. And baby birds do not drink water-- giving them a liquid can cause pneumonia). We mixed up the dry dogfood/catfood based diet, adding just a little water to the ground dry food, making a thick paste, and fed it to him on the end of a straw. He ate like a little pig, and he survived with us.
Now taking in an animal is a long term committment. Once the bird is acclimated to humans, he cannot be released back into the wild. Birds that are so released usually die, because they have not been taught to survive in the wild. Yes, parent birds teach the young ones what animals to avoid, what to eat, what not to eat. It's not all instinct. So I knew this little bird would be with us a long time.
Did I say his name was "bird"? His name is actually Francis Damien Xavier Bob Anthony the third. My daughter thought he ought to have "a good Catholic name" being he was found on the Church lawn. So that's his official name. We have always called him "Bird."
When Bird was about five months old, my husband heard him say "Kiss, kiss!" That was the little cad's first word. Since then he's added "C'mere!" "Worm!" "Cena!" (that's latin for "dinner") "You're so good." and "Go to sleep, bird" among other phrases. He also does quite a nice cell phone ring.
We'd had Bird a year when I was contacted by another person who had taken in a wild Starling. This person could no longer care for her bird, Charlie. She wanted to make sure he was with someone who knew how to take care of Starlings. She drove 200 miles to bring me Charlie.
Charlie was with us a short while when we realized he was a 'she'. Bird is male (DNA tested). But they are not interested in each other-- Bird appears to have imprinted on my daughter's feet, and the feet are what command his romantic attention. He and Charlie do "talk" at the same time, but are in separate adjacent flight cages. Both get time out (not at the same time) and fly around my den. Charlie likes to watch TV and if you are in the way, she screams "I CAN'T SEE!" If she wants to go to sleep and we're still watching TV, she'll say "Go to sleep, it's time to sleep." She also makes a perfect "find handset" sound she picked up from our cordless phone.
I really enjoy these birds. They are very intelligent, very attached to us, their flock. But they are wild. I don't recommend going out to find a 'pet' starling. Like any wild animal they have habits that would serve them in the wild. Bird will bite, and hard, if he's irritated. They can peck us also. They have never caused injury (and their beak is not strong enough to cause serious injury unless they pecked a sensitve spot like an eye), but we always exercise some reasonable caution when they are out.
As I type now, Bird is saying "Hello bird" and blowing me kisses ... actually just as I typed that he wolf whistled. I guess his first words, "Kiss, kiss" were indicating a behavior pattern. :)
You can see Bird on youtube, though he's not talking. I put the camera on and he shuts up, of course. If you search youtube for "talking starling" you will find some others, and yes, that's really them talking.
You can see Bird HERE.
