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The Story of Kuro: The World’s Longest Lived Domesticated Starling - P1/2
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Cheerful viewers,
welcome to
another exciting episode
of Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants,
the first in a two part series.
“Kuro,” meaning “black”
in Japanese, is the name
of a wild baby starling
that was rescued by
Izumi Kyle in June 1981
when she was
in the sixth grade.
At the time
she lived with her parents
Keigo and Yoko Iizuka
and siblings Ayumi,
Megumi, and Nana
in Toronto, Canada.
I remember walking by
the schoolyard and
around this playground,
seeing a nest in there
not realizing that
there was a little bird
that would be part of
our family for years
thereafter nesting there.
The European starling,
a small to medium-sized
passerine bird, is
one of the most abundant
garden birds in Europe.
Their unique ability
to mimic human speech
is referenced in
William Shakespeare’s
play “Henry IV, Part 1.”
In a project to introduce
to North America
every bird ever mentioned
in a Shakespeare play,
the species
was first brought to
the United States in 1890.
Strong
and highly adaptable,
these adorable birds
have even spread to Asia
and Australia.
Kuro lived
with the Iizuka family
for 19 happy years,
nearly four times
the average lifespan
of a starling!
In fact, at age 18
Kuro set a record by being
the world’s oldest living
domesticated starling.
Izumi now shares with us
how the story began.
It was a bright and sunny
spring day.
And I was
in the school yard
playing with my sisters.
And all of a sudden I see
that there are some kids
teasing this little fledgling,
and they had told me that
the fledgling had fallen
from its nest which was
up on that bell.
So I said “Please, please,
I’d like to take the bird.”
And I found
a little styrofoam cup and
I put little nesting in it
and I brought home Kuro,
and Kuro barely had
any feathers on his head
so he was a very, very
young starling
when I found him
many years ago.
Izumi’s family has always
been big fans of animals,
but no one had any
experience in caring for
a tender young fledgling!
The family named
the little one “Kuro”
thinking
that he was a blackbird.
I brought home Kuro
who was just probably
less than two weeks old
and he was a little ball,
a fledgling
with little tiny feathers.
Immediately after
I brought home Kuro,
we went to the library.
We had no idea what type
of species he was,
or what to feed him.
I right away brought her
into the bathtub to clean.
She was never scared of me.
That is the first time
I made contact with her.
And very quickly
we understood
that he was a common
European starling.
And it talks about
making sure that starlings
are fed around the clock,
something that’s high
in protein and fat.
And so we would put
a little bit of food
on the end of a chopstick
and immediately Kuro
would open his mouth
and we would feed him
probably every half hour
on the hour for at least
eight hours a day.
He really enjoyed it.
He’s so tame and then,
he’s great for the kids too.
So, the first day started
like that.
To everyone’s delight,
Kuro fell in love
with Izumi’s family too!
Starlings in general,
they’re birds that
imprint very, very quickly
to human beings.
So if you find him
within a 4, 7 to 14- day
time frame,
they will look to you
as the mother.
And so very, very quickly
this bird looked up at me
and bonded immediately
with me and I knew,
this bird has to stay with us
and this bird is going
to be absolutely
part of our family.
Under the loving care
of Izumi’s family,
Kuro grew rapidly
and was soon a lively,
healthful juvenile starling
with shining,
beautiful feathers.
Kuro also learned his name
and would respond
with a squeak every time
someone called him.
And within weeks,
Kuro learned how to fly.
He did fly around the house
and we would
very strategically
put newspaper out
on landing areas.
And the freedom I think
gave him a lot of liberation
in terms of feeling
like he’s not caged
and he had the freedom
to see whomever
and whenever, and
that really added I think
to the quality of him being
a domesticated starling.
The intelligent Kuro
established
a strong relationship
with every member
of the family.
They are very clever.
They do things that
are very mischievous,
(they) are
very curious animals.
He absolutely knew
who each one of us was,
reacted to our personalities
and for example
he really loved my father
and so my father could,
say like “Down Kuro!”,
whereas I would try
and say “Kuro down!”
even in the sternest voice
and he would not
react to me.
He’d be like,
“You know what? You’re
my sister, not my dad!”
One mystery about Kuro
is whether Kuro
was male or female.
Ayumi now explains more.
English isn’t my parents’
first language.
And I know my mom uses
“he” and “she”
interchangeably.
So I think that was
part of the confusion.
I always saw her
as a “she.”
Later in life, when we did
try to identify her gender,
she has mixed reports,
because on the one hand,
she has brown eyes
and that means
that it’s a “she.”
If she has blue on her beak,
it means it’s a “he.”
But she had both.
We maybe had a really
unusual starling as well.
But I think we all so
related to her differently.
I thought of her as a “she.”
I think other people
might have thought of her
as a “he.”
So, we use it
interchangeably.
When Kuro was
a few months old,
it was discovered
he could say things
like “good bird!”,
“pretty bird!”, “kiss”,
“Kuro stay!” and many
combinations thereof.
She’s coming.
Kiss. Good, good.
Yes, good, good.
Good, good.
She totally understands
what we are saying.
She would go to the sink
and land on the faucet
and say "mizu," which
means water in Japanese.
And you'd
turn on the faucet and
she'd either have a drink
or start having a bath.
So she had comprehension
of the two languages
as well. (Bilingual.)
Kuro loved singing and
could whistle many tunes
including the William Tell
overture and
"Pop Goes the Weasel."
Here are a few of his
recorded performances!
Interestingly,
he could also copy
mechanical sounds!
Starlings, they are a type
of bird that can mimic
and they don’t have
their own song.
Robins or other wild birds
have their own
distinct call,
and so in the wild they
pick up other song birds’
voices and sounds.
And of course us
being humans, naturally
Kuro would mimic
and pick up on words
we would say, whistles,
even sounds.
I used to have a watch
that would go off
every hour and
would go “deet deet!”
And we’d be in the kitchen,
all of a sudden
I hear “deet deet!”
and I look at my watch…
“Wait it’s 5:30!”
No, it wasn’t my watch
going off at 6,
it was Kuro in the kitchen
imitating that sound.
Being very serious
about his music, Kuro
would seize any chance
to practice his singing!
She loved her voice
over any other sound
in the household, including
my organ playing,
which I would
dutifully do every week
to practice for my lesson.
And so she would,
as soon as
I'd turn on the organ
and start playing,
would sit right
where the music stand was
and start listening to
what I'm playing
but she would also
somewhat match
the volume of my playing.
So if I was playing
a soft ballad,
she would sing
very sweetly and quietly.
And as soon as I start
to play a little louder
with more force,
she would start
belting on top of
whatever I was playing.
So that was
one of the things
I enjoyed most about her.
This would go on
for maybe 45 minutes
to an hour straight.
So she was really
dedicated to her singing.
She did that
with a hair dryer too.
If you were blow drying
your hair, she would sit
on the other shoulder
and she would be singing
really loud and as soon as
you turned it off,
it would catch her
by surprise so she would
still let out one loud note,
and then she would be
embarrassed and then
she'd start preening.
She's like, "I'm cool."
Yes, it’d be really funny.
Izumi now shares
one interesting anecdote
about an interview
regarding Kuro
with National Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation
(CBC) Radio.
This bird loved to sing.
And you could count on
Kuro to be singing hours
every day.
And so when
I was interviewed on
National CBC Radio
about my bird,
and during the whole
interview process I am
telling Michael Enright
who hosts "As It Happens,"
how my bird sings
and talks all the time.
And throughout
the interview, he's like,
"Well, can you make him
say something?"
And I'm like, "Absolutely,"
and every time I would
put the phone near my bird,
the bird would clam up
and look at the phone like,
“What are you doing?”
And so throughout
the entire interview,
the bird said nothing.
And as soon as I hung up,
the bird goes
and starts talking.
So that was
definitely memorable.
The adorable Kuro
bought much love,
laughter and light
to the Iizuka family.
They all
deeply treasured him like
a fellow family member.
One day, out of curiosity,
Kuro flew away
from the house when
the door was left open
a little longer than usual.
Having never left home
before,
what was the result?
To find out,
please join us tomorrow
on Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants
for conclusion of the
fascinating story of Kuro.
For more information
on Kuro the starling,
please visit www.StarlingTalk.com/kuro.htm
Thank you for your
pleasant company
on today’s program.
May our spirits
forever soar high above
like our bird friends.
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