Look at his incredible transformation!

What would you do if you see a small cracked egg on a pavement? Most of us would probably ignore it and go about our way but for some reason, this woman’s attention was captured and she decided to give it a closer look. Compassionate animal lover, Susan Hickman,  found a small, cracked bird egg on the ground. When she picked it up, she was stunned to realize a baby Starlet was still alive inside. She looked around for a nest, thinking the Starling egg may have accidentally dropped from one, but there wasn’t any nearby. Susan then knew it was up to her to take care of the baby bird.

Although she didn’t have any experience with birdcare, she wanted to give it a shot to at least give the creature a chance for survival. Though bird rehabbers warned her the bird would likely die, Susan named it Klinger and dedicated herself to raising him. For the first two weeks of his life, Susan had to feed Klinger every 20 to 30 minutes. It was an exhausting process, but she felt a strong connection to the baby she saved. Susan originally had planned to raise and then release Klinger back into the wild when he was ready — but she soon found out that would be impossible. “Klinger was raised as an only bird from the day he hatched,” she explains. “A single bird cannot be raised without imprinting on its caretaker.”

An amazing journey!

Imprinting is a special learning process which occurs early in life, through which an animal develops a sense of species identification.” Because of this, Susan feared the bird would not survive alone in the wild. Luckily, she lives in a state where Starlings can be kept as pets, so Klinger has a forever home with his adoptive mom. While it’s not a normal life for a starling, Klinger looks like he’s as happy as can be, and that’s what counts… so then their beautiful journey began. Watch the video, Klinger’s amazing journey unfold over the course of his first year with Susan.