Movie role for talking starling

A starling called Arnie that its trainer claims can talk, mimic mobile phones and fly beside a vehicle at 40mph is to appear in a film. Arnie coached by bird trainer Lloyd Buck, who said the bird already has a 'vocabulary' of 30 words.

Mr Buck, who is 41 and lives with his wife Rosie outside Bristol, is one of the world's leading bird trainers and a veteran of wildlife documentaries.

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."