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Post by siobhan on Nov 24, 2018 15:31:45 GMT -5
I came home yesterday to find Ringo on the floor under my dressing table, confused, trembling, her heart beating too fast and unable to control her legs. Her toes were all curled up tight, too. Ringo is a starling and normally I'm not allowed to touch her, though she sits on my shoulder or lap or arm and takes all sorts of liberties with my person. But yesterday she sat in my hand, on her tummy, and let me pet her for a long time, with her eyes closed. I finally took her back to her cage and she couldn't stand up without falling over, so she laid on top of it and dozed for a while. An hour or two later, she was able to stand, but was still very wobbly until last night. This morning, she seems mostly all right, though she was very quiet. No singing or chirping or talking and normally she chatters all the time. And she still seemed confused. It's hard to explain how I know that, but though she recognized me and flew to me, she had this look in her eyes like she didn't quite understand where she was. Starlings have almost human eyes, not like a parrot's.
All I could think of was that she'd hit her head and was stunned, except she's a really talented flier. She can turn in midair and hover and everything. She's a starling, after all, and they do those murmurations (ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY). There's a mirror in the room, but she's lived with that mirror all her life and knows what it is. In fact, she sits in front of it and admires herself regularly. She's only 6 and that seems young for a stroke or something, and besides, if that were it, she wouldn't have recovered this much. Hubby thought she'd "gotten into something" but I don't know what. Her room is bird-safe and there's nothing in there that she could have ingested other than her food and water. No perfume or hair products and my makeup is inside a wooden box with a lid that she couldn't possibly have opened, and which was closed, anyway.
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Post by cnyguy on Nov 24, 2018 20:59:52 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about Ringo. Even though she is a good flier, she still may have bumped into something in flight. Maybe something startled her and she flew into a wall and was stunned. A stroke doesn't seem probable, but I suppose it may be possible. It's a good sign that she was somewhat better this morning. Hope she continues to improve and will be her usual self again soon.
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Post by biteybird on Nov 26, 2018 5:10:30 GMT -5
I can only echo what Gary has said...hope Ringo is back to her usual self in no time. She has the best mum/slave!  |
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Post by siobhan on Nov 26, 2018 10:32:23 GMT -5
She's fine now, thank God. She didn't do any singing or talking for a whole day afterward, which worried me even though she seemed mostly okay otherwise, but yesterday, she was back to normal.
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Post by biteybird on Nov 27, 2018 4:26:21 GMT -5
Thank goodness. You must have been frantic.
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Post by siobhan on Nov 27, 2018 11:17:26 GMT -5
I was, and I don't know where I could have taken her for medical attention. It's perfectly legal to keep a starling in this state as they're considered an invasive species, but my bet is even an avian vet wouldn't have any idea how to treat one and would possibly refuse. I could have called my friends at the raptor center who gave her to me -- they're quite good at treating most things they encounter and are licensed to do so -- but if it were beyond their abilities, then what? I'm relieved she bounced back on her own and this morning when I got ready for work, you'd never have known anything happened at all. Perfectly normal squawking and chattering, banging her favorite toy, bouncing off my head (she flies at me, touches down and flies away again; it's her way of saying "Hi, Mom!" LOL).
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Post by cnyguy on Nov 27, 2018 21:02:16 GMT -5
but if it were beyond their abilities, then what? Glad that Ringo is back to normal. One possibility if the need should arise (hope that it never will) would be an online consultation with the Avian Medicine department at Cornell. They have a good understanding of all kinds of birds and could probably assist in diagnosing and treating a starling. |
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Post by siobhan on Nov 30, 2018 11:11:34 GMT -5
I have tried to contact them before in regard to her, when I first got her, to make sure I was feeding her the right things and so on, and they blew me off. You shouldn't keep a starling as a pet was all they had to say. In my original communication, I TOLD them that it's legal in Illinois and that she was imprinted and couldn't be released and had been given to me by the raptor center, whom they were welcome to contact if they wanted verification.
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Post by cnyguy on Nov 30, 2018 21:21:18 GMT -5
It's surprising that they were so uncooperative and refused to help. Cornell is usually better than that. Maybe they'd be more willing to work with someone from the raptor center, someone with more "official" status.
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Post by siobhan on Dec 4, 2018 13:19:57 GMT -5
Lots and lots of people keep starlings who can offer advice, and by now, I'm pretty confident about most things anyway. I still have trouble cutting her nails. She keeps her beak short herself thanks to my husband the genius, who created a rock garden for her. I put her treats -- dried meal worms -- all over the rocks so she has to peck the rocks to get the worms, and that keeps her beak short. I wish I had a better solution for her nails.
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Post by dinucci on Jan 5, 2019 9:51:40 GMT -5
I think it's great that you keep a starling..not everyone's favorite bird,but I think they're cool looking. We get a few at the feeders here,but they don't cause trouble and move along quickly.
What kind of base food does she eat?
Btw...iI'm in schaumburg il.
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Post by siobhan on Jan 12, 2019 13:08:05 GMT -5
She eats cat food and dried meal worms. In summer, she catches moths who wander in.
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