Starlings and parrots?

[rk100]

Hi, I wondered if anyone here has advice regarding what sort of medium-sized or large parrot is most likely to be able to coexist (with separate cages and strict supervision of course!) with starlings. I have three starlings, who are very spoiled and out of their cages with me most of the day. I have my heart set on adopting a medium or large parrot someday (when I have a bit more space to provide an adequate environment) but am very concerned that it's just an unfeasible dream because I don't know that it would ever be safe or manageable for a parrot to "share" me with my starlings. My starlings are all still young and will hopefully be with me for many years. I also have handraised finches, who would be a bit of an issue, as well, I'm afraid , but perhaps more manageable because I could keep them entirely separated from any potential parrot.

Anyway, if anyone has advice or experience with how to balance hookbills and passerines , more importantly small and large birds both needing plenty of out of cage interaction, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Mizzely]

@Feather has a Starling and some Poicephalus parrots; hopefully she can offer some insight

 

[fashionfobie]

Anyway, if anyone has advice or experience with how to balance hookbills and passerines , more importantly small and large birds both needing plenty of out of cage interaction, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I do not have experience with starlings so I hope, Feather, will chime in to help with that

I do have hookbills and finches. Generally I do not allow them out together. My tiny little parrotlets, only 30g parrots, can be highly territorial and I don't trust that they won't harm the finches. My other parrot is a plumhead and he can be out with the finches. Plumheads are less provoked and not territorial in the manner of my little parrots. That saying my plumhead has always known the finches.

Plumheads are small parrots not, med-large. I am also not sure how starlings can react to other birds. They are a similar size to plumheads and possibly they could hurt the plummie?
In light of my ignorance on starlings, I am not responding for help on starlings but in relationship to finches

Sorry for the poor quality photo but this is my plumhead, Pi, free flying with my finches in the living room. Pi watches them but mostly ignores them. When the finishes aren't out Pi will watch them in their enclosure too.

 

[rk100]

Thanks for your replies.

In my experience with my three starlings and observing them around other birds (my finches, friend's canaries and budgies) they tend to ignore or outright avoid other birds, with the exception that my oldest starling Moa hates my friend's male canary with a passion and it's mutual. She is worst when experiencing spring hormones and is usually able to ignore him otherwise .

Overall, I think starlings tend to be a "live and let live" sort of bird unless really hormonal and even then my male Moki isn't territorial at all. He gets irritated if one of the finches invades his "space bubble" and will squawk angrily and do a starling version of a bluff lunge, but that's it. I mean , I'm still always careful because the finches are so tiny and a starling could easily kill them, but I know my starlings well enough that I can trust them pretty well.

Starlings like their personal space and I believe they'd stay away from a parrot for the most part. My main concern would be if Moa were to become jealous, or if there was a poking bluff from an irritated starling having their space invaded and the parrot were to snap back.

 

[Pat H]

Hi, I wondered if anyone here has advice regarding what sort of medium-sized or large parrot is most likely to be able to coexist (with separate cages and strict supervision of course!) with starlings. I have three starlings, who are very spoiled and out of their cages with me most of the day. I have my heart set on adopting a medium or large parrot someday (when I have a bit more space to provide an adequate environment) but am very concerned that it's just an unfeasible dream because I don't know that it would ever be safe or manageable for a parrot to "share" me with my starlings. My starlings are all still young and will hopefully be with me for many years. I also have handraised finches, who would be a bit of an issue, as well, I'm afraid , but perhaps more manageable because I could keep them entirely separated from any potential parrot.

Anyway, if anyone has advice or experience with how to balance hookbills and passerines , more importantly small and large birds both needing plenty of out of cage interaction, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I do not have direct contact w/ Starlings, but only thru a friend... they can be precious additions to a flock!

 

[Feather]

Aaaabsolutely not compatible, at all. I would never, ever let them out together, and in fact, I'm in the process of moving the parrots into a different room so there's no interaction whatsoever. I've had a few close calls when the starling has landed on one of the parrots' cages and climbed down the walls. While he seems rather nonchalant about their existence, it is abundantly clear that the parrots 100% want to kill him. Right now I have a curtain dividing the room in half to prevent further incident until I can finish transferring them to the other room.

 

[rk100]

Aaaabsolutely not compatible, at all. I would never, ever let them out together, and in fact, I'm in the process of moving the parrots into a different room so there's no interaction whatsoever. I've had a few close calls when the starling has landed on one of the parrots' cages and climbed down the walls. While he seems rather nonchalant about their existence, it is abundantly clear that the parrots 100% want to kill him. Right now I have a curtain dividing the room in half to prevent further incident until I can finish transferring them to the other room.

Ahh this is what I was afraid of. I'm honestly not sure if I will ever be in a situation to adopt a parrot with that in mind . I certainly can't endanger my starlings and I don't want to end up in a chaotic and overwhelming situation. I'll admit it's pretty heart breaking for me, as I really would love to experience the different dynamic one has with a hookbill. Budgies aren't exactly the right fit for me and I'm afraid the dust of a cockatiel would be bad for the starlings. They seem very sensitive to dust.

The reason I'm enamoured with the idea of a larger parrot is the potential for a lifelong companion. I also wouldn't mind having a fid who's a little more hands on , and able to be harness trained.

 

[MnGuy]

On a side note, I would love to see and hear more about your starlings: how you keep them, personality, pictures, etc.

 

[Feather]

Ahh this is what I was afraid of. I'm honestly not sure if I will ever be in a situation to adopt a parrot with that in mind . I certainly can't endanger my starlings and I don't want to end up in a chaotic and overwhelming situation. I'll admit it's pretty heart breaking for me, as I really would love to experience the different dynamic one has with a hookbill. Budgies aren't exactly the right fit for me and I'm afraid the dust of a cockatiel would be bad for the starlings. They seem very sensitive to dust.

The reason I'm enamoured with the idea of a larger parrot is the potential for a lifelong companion. I also wouldn't mind having a fid who's a little more hands on , and able to be harness trained.

For what it's worth, it is possible to harness train a starling. Marii wears an Aviator Mini. Though training him when he was small and not yet full of opinions sure helped.

 

[rk100]

For what it's worth, it is possible to harness train a starling. Marii wears an Aviator Mini. Though training him when he was small and not yet full of opinions sure helped.

Wow! He is adorable. Congrats! I figured with the right harness and right approach, especially starting young , it would be possible, but I hadn't heard of anyone who had managed it. how do you get it on him? Does he make a fuss?

How old is he, by the way ? Moa is 5 and Moki and Puni are 3.

I have all three in various stages of travel cage training . Moki enjoys outings, as he's really good with the travel cage. They all go in on request , but Moa is phobic about actually leaving the room and I'm trying to slowly work on her fear. Puni is only at the stage of going in and letting me close the door.

I had started training Moa to allow me to place a ribbon over her head to work on potentially preparing her to accept a harness , but I wasn't sure it would really work and I let myself slack off.

 

[rk100]

On a side note, I would love to see and hear more about your starlings: how you keep them, personality, pictures, etc.

I'm glad to hear that. I would love to ramble about them, haha. In fact , I have been lurking for a long time and have wanted to make a "good, bad, and ugly ' about European Starlings but kept convincing myself not many would be interested.

 

[Destiny]

I'm glad to hear that. I would love to ramble about them, haha. In fact , I have been lurking for a long time and have wanted to make a "good, bad, and ugly ' about European Starlings but kept convincing myself not many would be interested.

Please do! I know that I would be interested.

 

[Feather]

Wow! He is adorable. Congrats! I figured with the right harness and right approach, especially starting young , it would be possible, but I hadn't heard of anyone who had managed it. how do you get it on him? Does he make a fuss?

How old is he, by the way ? Moa is 5 and Moki and Puni are 3.

I have all three in various stages of travel cage training . Moki enjoys outings, as he's really good with the travel cage. They all go in on request , but Moa is phobic about actually leaving the room and I'm trying to slowly work on her fear. Puni is only at the stage of going in and letting me close the door.

I had started training Moa to allow me to place a ribbon over her head to work on potentially preparing her to accept a harness , but I wasn't sure it would really work and I let myself slack off.

He's coming up on two years old in April. I just put it on him daily as a kiddo and established it as a normal thing. He does fuss a little, but the moment we're outside he's good with it - the same is true of my and many other parrots. I don't think I could train him to wear it as an adult... I tried to introduce a BBB Flyper and he wouldn't have it.

I had him really well trained with flying into his cage on command until I upgraded it. Been working on re-establishing the behavior, but it's slow going. I think it's because his new doors are acrylic and even with tape added for visibility, he doesn't seem to trust when they're open.

I'm glad to hear that. I would love to ramble about them, haha. In fact , I have been lurking for a long time and have wanted to make a "good, bad, and ugly ' about European Starlings but kept convincing myself not many would be interested.

Go for it! I've been toying with the idea myself but don't feel very qualified. My two cents and experience would be better off as a comment than a thread starter, I think.

 

[rk100]

This week is going to be busy for me, so it will be a little while before I'm able to devote the time to writing up a thread, but I will go ahead and start one as soon as I'm able. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[rk100]

He's coming up on two years old in April. I just put it on him daily as a kiddo and established it as a normal thing. He does fuss a little, but the moment we're outside he's good with it - the same is true of my and many other parrots. I don't think I could train him to wear it as an adult... I tried to introduce a BBB Flyper and he wouldn't have it.

Cool.
It probably helped that you had prior experience with your parrots, I bet When my first starling fell into my lap unexpectedly I had no experience with birds, so had no idea about harnesses.

I don't think it is entirely impossible to teach an adult bird if you take it very slowly and let them volunteer , basically, but I'm talking theoretically as I'm just going by what I've read and seen. The issue is that I'm not sure if a starling can learn to "volunteer" to go into a harness . I've seen videos of parrots lowering their heads, etc, but starlings don't really have that sort of body language, so that's why I'm not sure an adult starling would be the same as an adult parrot.

 

[Feather]

Cool.
It probably helped that you had prior experience with your parrots, I bet When my first starling fell into my lap unexpectedly I had no experience with birds, so had no idea about harnesses.

I don't think it is entirely impossible to teach an adult bird if you take it very slowly and let them volunteer , basically, but I'm talking theoretically as I'm just going by what I've read and seen. The issue is that I'm not sure if a starling can learn to "volunteer" to go into a harness . I've seen videos of parrots lowering their heads, etc, but starlings don't really have that sort of body language, so that's why I'm not sure an adult starling would be the same as an adult parrot.

Certainly, I believe it could be done. It's just not a priority and I don't have the kind of time to devote to that consistent of training is all I meant.