My uncle did the same with a crow.

Raised him from spring all through summer and fall.

He came down to Florida after Christmas with "Jakie-fly-bird" and let him loose in Zolfo Springs.

I walked into a conversation between my father and my uncle shortly after that. I thought they had both gone insane...

Caw, Caw, Caw, said my uncle. Ka-Kaw, Ka-kaw, answered my father. "But down here, they say, AT-AT when they see danger".

Those fuckers were speaking bird.

You can laugh if you want to, but my uncle was drinking a beer with me one night around the backyard fire when a cacophony of birds started yelling at each other in the trees in the back and he said, "There's a snake over there in the grass."

Bullshit.

I walked over to where he had pointed and there was indeed a 4' black snake hiding in the grass.

...them old fuckers could understand Bird. I can't even speak Spanish.

edit: Jakie-fly-bird showed up at my uncle's house in NJ a few months later. "Homing" is not exclusive to pigeons. The other crows didn't accept Jakie for that whole season. Jakie showed up at the open window at my uncle's house that whole summer. The next year, there was a crow that set up a nest in the top of a tree right outside my uncle's open window. The baby crows that hatched were oddly not shy of human presence. Not friendly, but not shy.

@puffy WhitePeopleThings

He looks so young, I'm surprised you don't have to smash those up and cram them down his throat for him.

That's cool no doubt. Interesting to see if it remembers you next year or whatever.

Robins, in general, over-rated, imo. They eat worms and not pests. Not a great song, and make a lot of racket. They start chirping like 0430. And only here for the good times of summer.

Be sure to teach it about the jews.

I found a baby robin last summer! His name is Jarson.

I'm teaching him how to play fetch with a hair tie. Once your guy is a little bigger those will make the BEST toy. Trust me. Get a pack.

Great stuff. I raised a Magpie who fell out of the nest. His head fell over to the right making him look like he had a broken neck. I held it up with one finger while feeding him and taking him outside to look around. 6 weeks later he could hold it up himself. Kept him for 3 months, taught him too eat bugs and let him sit on the deck railing. He kept flying back into the house. Finally I took him out and tossed him in the air and he flew off and joined a few other magpies. Covids are very intelligent birds.

Avian creatures are my favorite type of being. I did falconry after I watched an owl always watching me when I snuck out for smokes on my grandpa's farm at night. It would just watch me like we were having some kind of mental mind interaction and when it eventually flew away it would always do a little sweep around, look at me again and leave. Since it was on his farm I eventually studied falconry and wanted to befriend it but it disappeared after about 3 months of it being there almost every night. I wish I was a bird to be honest, but not a small one, preferably an owl, falcon, raven, crow or eagle. Me and my cousins would use non kill mouse traps and release then and let the owl eat them near the end.

When it disappeared I remember being upset but it is a solitary night creature and it ultimately just wanted the free hunt. It would always stay a while afterwards even if we didn't have more, possibly waiting. I still felt a bond regardless though.

Neat!