A LOT of birds!

[Twisterdog]

I raised a baby grackle that I found once. He was a pretty cool bird, and very smart. I released him back into the wild.

I have also raised several baby starlings. One of them would not leave, and ended up living in the house for years. He said probably a couple hundred words. Unlike parrots, that have to be taught by repitition, birds of the corvid family (mynah birds, crows, starlings, etc.) simply learn on their own. I never tried to teach him anything, he just heard something he liked and started saying it. In fact, he refused to learn things I tried to teach him. I wanted him to say "Nevermore." No way. However, he learned to say, "This is National Public Radio, Talk of the Nation" all on his own, from hearing it on the radio a few times. He could also sing the first few lines of Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" after hearing it a couple of times. That really freaked people out! They also speak in a perfect imitation of the voice they hear. My starling could scold the dogs or call my son, and he sounded so identical to me, that they dogs slunk away abashed and my son would always come downstairs saying, "What, Mom?"

True, they are not native species, and therefore not protected. They are hard on some native birds ... starlings nest in bluebird holes. But they also eat untold billions of pounds of insects.

[Freedom]

Amazing, thanks for catching both the photo and the vid to share with us.

[happylabs]

I raised a baby grackle that I found once. He was a pretty cool bird, and very smart. I released him back into the wild.

I have also raised several baby starlings. One of them would not leave, and ended up living in the house for years. He said probably a couple hundred words. Unlike parrots, that have to be taught by repitition, birds of the corvid family (mynah birds, crows, starlings, etc.) simply learn on their own. I never tried to teach him anything, he just heard something he liked and started saying it. In fact, he refused to learn things I tried to teach him. I wanted him to say "Nevermore." No way. However, he learned to say, "This is National Public Radio, Talk of the Nation" all on his own, from hearing it on the radio a few times. He could also sing the first few lines of Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska" after hearing it a couple of times. That really freaked people out! They also speak in a perfect imitation of the voice they hear. My starling could scold the dogs or call my son, and he sounded so identical to me, that they dogs slunk away abashed and my son would always come downstairs saying, "What, Mom?"

True, they are not native species, and therefore not protected. They are hard on some native birds ... starlings nest in bluebird holes. But they also eat untold billions of pounds of insects.

That is a neat story. I think it is so cool when birds talk. A friend of mine had a bird that would sing "I left my heart in San Francisco".