Movie role for talking starling
A starling that can talk, mimic mobile phones and fly beside a
vehicle at 40mph is to appear in a film.
Arnie the starling is coached by bird trainer Lloyd Buck, who
said the bird already has a 'vocabulary' of 30 words, reports the
Daily Telegraph.
Mr Buck, 41, who lives with wife Rosie outside Bristol, is one
of the world's leading bird trainers and a veteran of wildlife
documentaries.
He has taught a golden eagle to fly fitted with a camera and
trained peregrine falcons to plunge with skydivers at speeds of up
to 200mph.
Mr Buck found Arnie after it had been rejected from its nest
and, after gaining a licence to rear it, developed the pair's close
working relationship.
Arnie, which is named after a children's book character rather
than Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Terminator actor, is to appear in a
British film which starts production in 2010.
Mr Buck said: "When we came across Arnie he had been thrown from
the nest. He was naked and blind and would not have survived.
"He is totally fearless and very smart. He's also very cheeky.
He says about 30 different words and phrases, impersonates Rose's
cough and my laughter. He also mimics magpies and moorhens."
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