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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chickadeedeedee" data-source="post: 1344363" data-attributes="member: 31336">Oh Dan!  What a wonderful story and such a sad end to a delightful bird!  The time he had with you were filled with fun and love. Who could possibly ask for anything more?That's the ~danger~ of hand raising some of the birds. Some species imprint on people more easily than others. That's how we were adopted by Kramer, our Starling. Blue Jays, Crows and the Mourning Doves can heavily imprint on people too. When ever we get a Mourning Dove chick, we let our Ring-neck Doves raise them so they can be released. Otherwise ... add another dove to our collection of non-releasables.From the chicks we have hand raised, Grackles, Sparrows (Chipping, Song, House), Robins, Flicker Woodpecker, Finch (Purple and House), and the Robins do not imprint so easily. Seems one day they *know* they are wild birds and revert to their natural state of mind.</blockquote>