Many people who live with starlings report becoming self-conscious about tics they never knew they had until their starlings mimicked them back: sighing, coughing, sniffing, tongue-clicking, odd little laughs. In Meredith West’s academic household, a resident starling would perch on the professor’s shoulder and mutter, Basic research, it’s true, I guess that’s right, and when someone else walked into the room, the bird would announce, I have a question! The implication is that mimicry has a rich and complex social aspect—that it’s valuable and useful for starlings to connect aurally with those
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“Many people who live with starlings report becoming self-conscious about tics they never knew they had until their starlings mimicked them back: sighing, coughing, sniffing, tongue-clicking, odd little laughs. In Meredith West’s academic household, a resident starling would perch on the professor’s shoulder and mutter, Basic research, it’s true, I guess that’s right, and when someone else walked into the room, the bird would announce, I have a question! The implication is that mimicry has a rich and complex social aspect—that it’s valuable and useful for starlings to connect aurally with those they are most closely bonded to, whether that is another starling or a human.”
