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How does a starling copy up to 50 different sounds?

Imagine: you're walking through a park and you hear your cell phone ringing. You look around and the phone is gone. But there's a fluffy black bird sitting on a branch, looking at you with sly curiosity. It's a starling, and it's just played a trick on you!

The starling is one of the best imitators in the bird world. One starling can memorize and repeat up to 50 different sounds! Scientists have recorded starlings imitating: a telephone ringing, a police siren, a dog barking, a cat meowing, a door creaking, the noise of an engine, a train horn, and even human laughter and words.

How does it do it? The starling has a special organ in its throat called the syrinx. It is more complex than a human's. Thanks to this, the starling can make two different sounds at the same time! It's like a choir from one bird.

Interestingly, starlings don't just copy for fun. It's part of the "courtship" process: a male who knows more sounds seems smarter—and females choose him more often. It's like serenading a girl, but with 50 different songs!

Starlings also gather in huge flocks - up to a million birds! And they make amazing figures in the sky - a cloud, a dolphin, a spiral. This is called "murmuring", and it looks like a living drawing in the sky. Each bird watches only 7 neighbors - and all together create a miracle.

By the way, the famous character of one film, Mozart the Starling, really existed! Composer Wolfgang Mozart had a pet starling that sang melodies from his operas. The composer loved it so much that he even held a funeral for the bird.