Ash caught it as a Starly in Two Degrees of Separation while searching for Pikachu, who was missing due to the antics of Team Rocket. Aipom was swinging through the trees and accidentally bumped into Starly, so the two Pokémon battled. Weakened by Aipom, Starly was captured and immediately used in the search for Pikachu. In When Pokémon Worlds Collide, Starly had its first battle against another Starly belonging to Paul and lost.
In A Staravia is Born, Starly evolved into a Staravia during a battle with Team Rocket. Immediately after its evolution Staravia had perfectly learned Aerial Ace. Evolving has also allowed it to grow much stronger and become very useful in searches.
Staravia was the only one of Ash's Pokémon who didn't participate in Ash's first Sinnoh Gym battle against Roark; however, Staravia helped out in Ash's second Sinnoh Gym battle, defeating Gardenia's Cherubi. After seeing Reggie's Staraptor use the powerful Brave Bird attack, Ash was inspired to teach it to Staravia. In the third Sinnoh Gymbattle, Staravia defeated Maylene's Machoke and Meditite, as well as successfully mastering Brave Bird.
Despite the fact Ash's Staraptor and other members of his evolution family know Gust, it is impossible for Starly, Staravia, or Staraptor to learn it in the games. This error was also present in the Japanese version. The dub changed it to Whirlwind in Starly's initial appearance, but left it as Gust until One Big Happiny Family, when it was dubbed as Whirlwind again, and has been since.
For DP015, Professor Oak's lecture is about Ash's Staravia. He writes this Pokémon senryū about it: ムックルが ムクムクしんか ムクバード Mukkuru ga, mukumuku shinka, Mukubird "Mukkuru evolves abruptly, Mukubird."
Though Staraptor is confirmed to be male, the Czech dub refers to it as female. The same happens in the Latin American Spanish dub.
Althrough Ash Caught It Mainly To Find Pikachu, He Was Very Happy When He Caught Starly. It Has Also Proven Useful At Times.
Upon evolution into Staravia, it was the 40th Pokémon species Ash has owned, counting the technically unofficial Larvitar and Haunter.
Upon its final evolution, Staraptor became the 50th Pokémon that Ash has obtained, including evolutions and counting Seaking and Haunter. However, Haunter was not officially his and Seaking was released as part of contest rules.
Staraptor is Ash's second Pokémon to evolve while battling against one of Ash's rivals, the first being Ash's Grotle.
Staraptor is Ash's only Normal/Flying to go through two stages of evolution while in his care. While Pidgeot is a second evolution Pokémon, Ash caught it when it was already a Pidgeotto.
. The following is a list of cards named Staraptor 
