By his 10th week,  I had learned that Willy was to be a permanent family member. Since I’d waited too long to begin an outdoor acclimation process, the expert I talked with told me that he would not survive outdoors. He was flying expertly by then, making daily rounds of every room he had access to, sometimes flying throughout the halls, often hitching rides on my shoulder, and sometimes still catching a ride with the dog or the cat. He’d grown highly interested in family mealtime, and insisted on picking and choosing various morsels from our dinner plates. I’d learned that Willy would never be someone you’d call Mr. Manners, and was forced to sequester him to his cage more often. If ice cream was being served though, I had to allow him to join us. That was his favorite treat, and he screeched decibels until he was served, then usually wanted a taste everyone else’s as well. One hectic morning, I hadn’t cleared the breakfast dishes yet, and found Willy bathing in a cereal bowl of leftover milk, which he splattered across the table and onto the surrounding floor, as he hopped, flapped, splashed, and screeched his pleasure. What a mess!, and yet another lesson for me.. Willy liked baths, and he liked them a lot! From that day forward, he took several daily baths in his very own bath bowl, and cleaning up the wet mess became another the many chores associated with having a starling in the house. By this time Willy’s diet consisted of meal worms, vegetables, whatever he could steal from us, and of course ice cream whenever it was on the menu.

At four months, Willy was more than five inches measured top of his head to the end of his short tail feathers. His beak was now at least an inch long, and dark brown. The soft brown down on his head was the only tell-tale sign remaining of his baby coat, and his dark feathers had taken on irridescent shades of green and purple. His energy and curiosity was constant, and he explored ceaselessly, stealing any object his beak could carry, and then depositing his prizes haphazardly throughout the house.. Every shelf, nook, and cranny held Willy’s treasures. Another of his favorite past times was catching flying insects, like those pesky summer flys, and he became very skillful at snatching them in mid air..

As the months and years passed, Willy continued to surprise, amaze, entertain, and sometimes frighten the humans around him. Starlings are notorious mimickers, and Willy was no exception. He spoke a few words.. like “Willie” and “Hello”, rang like the phone, knocked like the door, barked like our dog, and whistled the Marine Corps Hymn, amongst other musical efforts. He surprised, and somewhat stunned first time house guests  with sudden swoops across the room in front of them. One time my sister was visiting, and we heard her yell out from the bathroom..  She said that just as she’d prepared to use the toilet, she heard someone say “Hello!”  ..it was Willy of course.

After 15 years, Willy doesn’t doesn’t fly anymore, and mimics very rarely.  His feathers are now sparse, and not as shiny as they used to be. He has a little trouble with one of his feet, and he sleeps a lot more now. On winter nights his cage is covered snugly, with a heating pad on the top, because he can’t maintain his body heat very well now.  But he still has plenty of attitude, enjoys a daily bath,  and of course ..ice cream.