When naturalist and author Lyanda Lynn Haupt (@LyandaHaupt) decided to write the story of the relationship of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his pet starling, she knew that she had to do some field research. So she adopted a starling of her own, Carmen, to live with her and her family. A note from the author: Almost every bird in the country is protected by the Migratory Bird Treat Act, and of course it is illegal to disturb the nest, eggs or nestlings of all birds. Starlings are one rare exception because they are an unprotected invasive species. Even so, in most states is still illegal to keep one as a pet. Haupt tells the story of both birds in “Mozart’s Starling and joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young to talk about the book. Find more great reads on the Here & Now bookshelf Photos Of Lyanda’s Starling, Carmen Book Excerpt: ‘Mozart’s Starling’ By Lyanda Lynn Haupt Prelude: A Plague of Inspiration This book would have taken me half as long to write if it were not for one fact: most of it was composed with a starling perched on my shoulder. Or at least in the vicinity of my shoulder. Sometimes she was standing on top of my head. Sometimes she was nudging the tips of my fingers as they attempted to tap the computer keys. Sometimes she was defoliating the Post?it notes from books where I had carefully placed them to mark passages essential to the chapter I was working on — she would stand there in a cloud of tiny pink and yellow papers with an expression on her intelligent face that I could only read as pleased. She pooped on my screen. She pooped in my hair. Sometimes she would watch, with me, the chickadees that came to my window feeder to nibble the sunflower seeds I left for them. Sometimes she would look me in the eye and say, Hi, honey! Clear as day. “Hi, Carmen, I would whisper back to her. Sometimes, tired of all these things and seemingly unable to come up with a new way to entertain herself or pester me, she would stand close to my neck, tunnel beneath my hair, and nestle down, covering her warm little feet with her soft breast feathers, so close to my ear that I could hear her heartbeat. She would close her eyes and fall into a light bird sleep. It sounds like a sweet scene, but there is a conflict at its center. I am a nature writer, a birdwatcher, and a committed wildlife advocate, so the fact that I have lovingly raised a European starling in my living room is something of a confession. In conservation circles, starlings are easily the most despised birds in all of North America, and with good reason. They are a ubiquitous, nonnative, invasive species that feasts insatiably upon agricultural crops, invades sensitive habitats, outcompetes native birds for food and nest sites, and creates way too much poop. Millions of starlings have spread across the continent since they were introduced from England into New York’s Central Park one hundred and thirty years ago. An adult starling is about eight and a half inches from tip to tail, a fair bit larger than a sparrow but still smaller than a robin, with iridescent black feathers and a long, sharp, pointed bill. Just over a hundred and fifty years before the first starlings appeared in Central Park, the Swedish botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus had placed the species within his emerging avian taxonomy and christened it with the Latinized name we still use: Sturnus vulgaris. Sturnus for “star, referring to the shape of the bird in flight, with its pointed win...