Birds, Persnik Vulgaris

Persnik Vulgaris is our pet starling.

Persnik was rescued last spring from the sidewalk in front of the Apple
shop in Brooklyn where it had been attacked by the local deli's cat.
When I brought him/her home (we have not figured out how to sex a
starling) he was quite passive, but did not know how to forage. One of
his wings had the large feathers pulled out and he was unable to fly. He
also lost a portion of his toes on both feet. Recently his wings have
grown their feathers back but his toes remain stunted. Lacking a frame
of reference with other birds, he does not seem to know about handicaps.

We fed him for about two months with an eyedropper and baby parrot
feeder mix. In time we weaned him from the dropper to meal worms, which
continue to be his favorite snack. His main diet is Friskies Fancy Feast
cat food, which come sin small cans. He also likes saltines, grapes, and
bananas.

Starlings are related to minnas. A friend of ours in the neighborhood
has a starling that has learned to speak. With this in mind I set up a
radio next to Persnik's cage. Every morning before leaving for my
commute I feed Persnik and turn on the radio. He has been getting a lot
of contemporary rock n' roll and has been learning to make a few
interesting new sounds. We talk to each other. We both like the
_Electrifying Thunderstorms_ CD currently playing on the computer.

I was told that starlings live from 80-100 years. Now that I have this
bird I feel responsible. If I had let it go when it was young and
injured it would have been eaten. Now if I let it go it will only want
to come back, and would possibly die from not knowing how to find food.
When I was a kid I found a runt bluejay which we raised to maturity. As
much as we tried season after season the bird always thought that we
were family and would not leave, willingly.

On weekends, especially if I am going to be sitting still at the
computer, I have been letting Persnik out of the cage. He likes to sit
on my head, most of the time, so I have taken to wearing a hat. He seems
to like to sit on the brim and lean over and look at my face. I also
have to keep a roll of paper towels nearby. If not on my head, then he
sits on top of the computer monitor and watches my typing. Occasionally
he jumps down and p;adlgf'qsk helps. The latest trick is that I throw
him away in the air, as if  to discard an orange peel, and he flies
around in a circle and lands on my head. When I walk to the kitchen to
make tea he flies in circles around my head, trying to land on a moving
object. If I go to another room he flies around the house calling for
me. Last time he found Kathy's head upstairs and sat on it.

When I come home at the end of the day Persnik usually makes a lot of
noise, despite the fact that he has already gone to roost. I have to go
in, talk to him, turn off the radio, and cover his cage. I called him
Persnik because if you wave a finger at him he stands up and screeches
as if scolding, and then pecks at the finger. I've been trying to find
information on starling behaviour, but not with much success.

Right now he is sitting on my shoulder watching me type this message. I
don't know what Persnik thinks about this e-mail stuff.
--
][<en Follett
SOS Gab & Eti -- http://www.geocities.com/~orgrease
Bullamanka-Pinheads website
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A0=bullamanka-pinheads