was just curious, does anyone have, or have had any of these delightfully funny little birds?
I currently own 3, I have 2 males named Jabber and Jawtok, Jabber is 4 years old, and Jawtok is 3 next tuesday give or take a day or a couple.
A friend of mine brought me Jabber when he cat killed the parent as it flew from the nest in his eves, he waited for 6 hours(from inside he could see the eves where the nest was from his living room window) and no parent returned, inside the nest were 3 pinky chicks, about 4 days old, unfortunately it had been in the mid 90's all day and 2 of the chicks died soon after rescue, having had no clue on caring for baby birds, he brought me the chick. around about a year later a bad storm fell a large dead branch from a big oak tree in my moms back yard, inside was a nest of 6 starling chicks, only 2 survived and 1 of the two drowned in our fish tank just after fledging, and so the survivor became Jawtok.
little known fact about birds like starlings, is that single chicks CANNOT be released, because they imprint on their "parent" and do not know how to care for themselves, the same actually goes for blackbirds, jays, grackles ect. (to this day infact, I have the hardest time getting Jaw to FEED himself, he still gapes for food, and only eats by himself when he has to.
European starlings can also be VERY jealious, Jab and Jaw do NOT get along at ALL despite living together for the last 3 years
another cool thing, Starlings are related to myna birds, which means they can talk, well mimic, but can't talk like parrots.
Jabber, got his name for obvious reasons, he can "say", here kitty, hiya Jabs,Night jabs, stupid dog (after curage the cowardly dog), Gotta catch em all (after poke'mon) which sounds like "got etch all", and he knows some of spongebon square pants song, as well as he mimics the phone, and the wolf whistle.
Jawtok on the other hand, barely says a peep, except some of the "normal" vocalizations of starlings, though he has copied Jabber with the wolf whistle
also compared to Jabber who is a sweetheart, Jawtok is MEAN, when he is out of his flight cage, he bites, he doesn't like to be handled(except when theres food), and just does his own thing, Jabber is all up in your business, I almost flushed him down the toilet yesterday infact, oops.
my newest, actually isn't here yet, a friend from my work rescued bunch of baby starlings from an abandoned house, just before they tore it down, 18 babies in total, she's managed to find others and a few rescues to take most of the babies, I'm taking one because I want another starling. lol
it is actually not Illigal to keep starlings, because they are not native to the US, and infact are thought of as pests, so it's not illigal to shoot them either.
they make awesome pets for someone who wants to take the time to research and care for them, but I do not recomend going out and stealing from a nest, as tempting as that may be.
so anyone else ever had experience with these funny little birds?
I currently own 3, I have 2 males named Jabber and Jawtok, Jabber is 4 years old, and Jawtok is 3 next tuesday give or take a day or a couple.
A friend of mine brought me Jabber when he cat killed the parent as it flew from the nest in his eves, he waited for 6 hours(from inside he could see the eves where the nest was from his living room window) and no parent returned, inside the nest were 3 pinky chicks, about 4 days old, unfortunately it had been in the mid 90's all day and 2 of the chicks died soon after rescue, having had no clue on caring for baby birds, he brought me the chick. around about a year later a bad storm fell a large dead branch from a big oak tree in my moms back yard, inside was a nest of 6 starling chicks, only 2 survived and 1 of the two drowned in our fish tank just after fledging, and so the survivor became Jawtok.
little known fact about birds like starlings, is that single chicks CANNOT be released, because they imprint on their "parent" and do not know how to care for themselves, the same actually goes for blackbirds, jays, grackles ect. (to this day infact, I have the hardest time getting Jaw to FEED himself, he still gapes for food, and only eats by himself when he has to.
European starlings can also be VERY jealious, Jab and Jaw do NOT get along at ALL despite living together for the last 3 years
another cool thing, Starlings are related to myna birds, which means they can talk, well mimic, but can't talk like parrots.
Jabber, got his name for obvious reasons, he can "say", here kitty, hiya Jabs,Night jabs, stupid dog (after curage the cowardly dog), Gotta catch em all (after poke'mon) which sounds like "got etch all", and he knows some of spongebon square pants song, as well as he mimics the phone, and the wolf whistle.
Jawtok on the other hand, barely says a peep, except some of the "normal" vocalizations of starlings, though he has copied Jabber with the wolf whistle
also compared to Jabber who is a sweetheart, Jawtok is MEAN, when he is out of his flight cage, he bites, he doesn't like to be handled(except when theres food), and just does his own thing, Jabber is all up in your business, I almost flushed him down the toilet yesterday infact, oops.
my newest, actually isn't here yet, a friend from my work rescued bunch of baby starlings from an abandoned house, just before they tore it down, 18 babies in total, she's managed to find others and a few rescues to take most of the babies, I'm taking one because I want another starling. lol
it is actually not Illigal to keep starlings, because they are not native to the US, and infact are thought of as pests, so it's not illigal to shoot them either.
they make awesome pets for someone who wants to take the time to research and care for them, but I do not recomend going out and stealing from a nest, as tempting as that may be.
so anyone else ever had experience with these funny little birds?
