Well, it’s not Falconry: The Squeaker Diaries, Volume One

(Note from Jason: The following is an excerpt from the journal Tina is keeping about raising a wild starling from chick to adulthood. We hope you enjoy it.)

Sunday May 18, 2008

A pigeon fell out of his nest, got caught in chicken wire, and we became adoptive parents to the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. We did a little internet research and found out a baby pigeon is called a Squeaker, so we named our new addition Squeaker.

Monday, May 19, 2008

I was excited and relived when Squeaker survived his first night in captivity. This is my second try at taking care of wild birds. When I was a kid I tried to nurse a couple of black birds back to health and they died in a couple hours. The one thing I learned that is a mistake most people make. Do not feed your wild bird bread and water. It’s not good for them.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

He’s growing pretty much by the hour. Today he has a tail when there wasn’t one yesterday.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Well, Squeaker isn’t a pigeon. She is a Starling and a she.

Sat/ Sun May 31 June 1

I gave Squeaker flying lessons. I had her in my hands and dropped my hands fast a couple of times she let go of my fingers. I had her with me in the game room without dogs she flew a few feet. It was pretty exciting.

I’ve been reading www.starlingtalk.com Squeaker probably won’t “fly the coup.” She won’t learn how to forage for food and doesn’t view humans as enemies. Her eyes were closed when we got her so, she’s imprinted on us. As far as she’s concerned she’s a little flying human.

Monday June 2, 2008

I wanted to see if Squeaker would drink water by herself, so I filled a little ceramic dish with water (something heavy enough for her to stand on the edge and not tip it over). She walked around the dish a bit. I put my fingers in the dish and splashed a bit. She jumped in the bowl and started taking a bath. It was messy but really funny to watch. You could tell she really enjoyed that.

Tuesday June 3, 2008

Well it looks like we’ve trained Squeaker a bit. She runs to the cage door when it’s time to eat. I’m guessing she’s about 3 weeks old. She can fly pretty well now and likes to explore (though not too far). Yesterday I got her to fly about five feet. Today she’s flying about ten feet. It’s time to build a big cage.

Wednesday June 4^th.

She’s drinking water by herself. Now we just need to convince her to eat by herself. We are feeding her mostly soaked cat food. I mix in a tiny bit of formula for taste. They say you can teach Starlings to talk. We talk to her I don’t know what she’ll pick up. Sometimes it looks like she’s studying the sound. I’m going to laugh my ass off if she starts barking