Aussie Rules Football Fan Teaches Starling to Sing Familiar Team Anthem

A sports fan in Australia paid tribute to the Hawthorn Football Club when he taught his pet starling to whistle its fight song – based on George M Cohan’s Yankee Doodle Boy – on August 25, two days before their final game against Essendon.

Footage captured by Sharon Cahoon in Shepparton, Victoria, shows her brother, Hawthorn supporter Anthony Jon Costa, teaching his pet starling Bubba to whistle the anthem at his dining room table.

At first, the starling doesn’t do it properly, but manages to get the tune on the second try.

Cahoon told Storyful that her brother discovered Bubba under a tree in his front yard, shortly after the death of his dog.

“Bubba helped him get through the loss of his companion and best friend,” Cahoon said.

The bird also whistles other familiar tunes with her brother, such as Pop Goes the Weasel, she added. Credit: Sharon Cahoon via Storyful