Starling Couriers: Sci-fi or Spy

The dance of the starlings in their shadowed cote made Roger startle when he saw them. The flutter of wings beat against his eyes like nightmare shadows. He coughed, blinked, and they were just birds again, harmless, beautiful in their way, and good to keep because they could live off of anything. They could carry his messages, too, though they weren't as good as pigeons. But these days, pigeons were fair game for the cook pot, and nobody bothered with starlings. He'd heard tell of a man had taught a starling to talk, but his weren't anything like that fancy. They just had messages put in the little special anklets he'd made for them. Then they were set loose to go where they knew they would be rewarded for showing up. Starlings were greedy enough that he could rely on them going there.


Inspiration: None. I just started typing.
Story Potential: Medium. Nothing stops this from being a story, but nothing really makes it one either.
Finished Length: ?
Notes: There really was a person who trained a starling to talk and then wrote a book about it.