Talking Birds

[carnation]

My daughter is seeing a guy who has 2 parrots. One's perch is right next to a bathroom door and when he can hear someone going to the bathroom, he whistles the Andy Griffith theme song. (My daughter won't use that bathroom. LOL.)

He had us in the floor with his parrot stories. How do you teach a bird to talk? Do any of them actually know what they're saying?

[EE-BO]

Repetition is the key. The more you repeat something, the more likely the bird will mimic it over time.

Excitement helps too. Birds are good at picking up dirty words since they are usually uttered in a state of excitement.

Species makes a different as well. In parrots- the African greys and yellow napes make the best talkers. In macaws it is the Blue and Gold. Cockatoos are all good talkers, but none as good as the parrots I mentioned before.

Birds are very high maintenance pets that need routines and attention. That is why excited utterances are more easily picked up- it is as though you said them to the bird directly and they are words that clearly reflect high emotion (and thus a need for attention from others.)

I do not think birds ever understand the words they say. What they do understand is the result it gets them- and they will always say what gets them food/attention.

I only know all this because I worked at a bird store in high school and also had rescue birds at home during that time. It was an interesting phase in my life, but one I do not care to repeat.

In terms of temperment and friendliness, the best bird out there is the Umbrella Cockatoo. But they will scream the house down if they do not think they are getting the personal attention they deserve every day.

PS- For annoyance factor, I know a lady who has a yellow nape Amazon that can do a perfect imitation of her phone ringing. At least once a day she is called to the phone and it turns out the bird was making the noise. The bird's cage is right by the phone, and so he clearly learned the best way to capture the attention of his owner.

PPS- One funny story I have to share.

My grandparents had a Red-Headed Amazon parrot named Charlie for 30 years. When they first got him, they taught him to say "Hello Charlie!"

One night soon after they got him, they invited a couple over to the house who owned the local feed store. The man's name was Charlie.

When they came in the door, the parrot said "Hello Charlie!"

Charlie allegedly turned to my grandfather all bug-eyed and said, "Frank, that's the smartest bird I've ever seen!"

[ZTAngel]

We had a cockatiel that knew a few words. My sister taught him to say "Whazzzz up????" which always got some laughs from our guests.

[blueangel]

Originally Posted by carnation

My daughter is seeing a guy who has 2 parrots. One's perch is right next to a bathroom door and when he can hear someone going to the bathroom, he whistles the Andy Griffith theme song. (My daughter won't use that bathroom. LOL.)

He had us in the floor with his parrot stories. How do you teach a bird to talk? Do any of them actually know what they're saying?

Pardon the long post.. but you've hit on one of my favorite subjects.. birds!

If you or anyone else reading this is thinking of buying a bird, please don't buy it just because you hope it will talk. You may be disappointed.

The right reason to buy a bird is because you want a new pet to love and you have lots of time (and enough money) to give him/her companionship. Birds are very social animals which require a lot of time and a lot of work. The bigger ones can develop difficult behavior problems unless you know what you're doing (as in biting issues and domination issues).

Please also do your research because birds can be a handful! Too many birds end up abandoned because families took on "too much bird." Best to start out with a parakeet or other "starter bird."

Back to your question. Not all birds talk. The best talkers are African Greys (generally).. but there are some Greys that don't talk. An African Grey probably is not, however, your best choice for a first bird because they are a bigger breed, are extremely intelligent, need a lot of mental stimulation and are a lot of work. There are other good talkers such as Macaws, Quaker Parrots, etc.

But even a "starter" bird like a parakeet can be taught to talk if it's a baby (note the stripes on its head) and a boy (boys have a blue cere, girls have a pink or brown cere-- girls can talk, but male parakeets are usually easier to teach)-- but as a baby, they both have blue.. so it's hard to tell.

On the flip side, I have a Meyer's Parrot (Alex), which is not known for its talking ability.. yet she talks up a storm. ZTAngel also had a cockatiel, which is also not known for its talking ability.. yet hers talked! So its hard to tell. My cockatiel only wolf whistled despite considerable work with him trying to teach him to talk.

Keeping two birds together will usually end in failure to talk. They are too busy chirping to each other, that they don't pay much attention to you. That is why if you want a companion bird.. it's better to have one rather than two-- or at least keep them in separate rooms until they bond to you.

The best way to teach a bird to talk is through repetition. Find a quiet area and repeat over and over a phrase that is easy.. such as "pretty boy." "P"s and "B"s are easier to mimic than a phrase such as "I love you."

It could take weeks or months or never at all.. just continue to very quietly in a sweet voice, repeat the words over and over again.

What a lot of people don't know, is that birds are extremely intelligent.. particularly the bigger birds. My Alex will say "yummmmm!" only after I give her a favorite food, like grapes.

When I take out my luggage to go on a trip, she'll immitate the zipper with a loud, "zzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!"

There is a very interesting experiment going on with "Alex" (not mine) the Congo African Grey. He has learned hundreds of words, and uses them intelligently. He answer questions... knows colors, etc.

Here is a link:
http://www.123compute.net/dreaming/knocking/alex.html
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pepp...erg_index.html

And.. off topic again: sorry, but I'm a huge animal lover.. and do own and have bred birds... so again, I must stress...

Anyone thinking of buying a bird needs to do their homework. There is a LOT involved in owning a bird. Feeding a bird isn't a matter of filling up a seed cup-- they need a variety of foods.. fruits, vegetables, meats, pastas.. every day. Mine eat better than I do.

They need to be keep squeeky clean.

You need to know how to be the "alpha bird".. or the "flock leader" otherwise your bird will "rule the roost." He or she will bite you to dominate you unless you become the leader.

You need to know which birds are "screamers".. and which are quiet enough for your apartment.

You need to make sure you have enough money to care for a bird. I spent literally thousands of dollars on my cockatiel for medical care (he had a congenital heart problem).. and everytime I bring my parrot to the vet, I don't get out of there under $100. (You also need to find a good avian vet-- a normal vet usually doesn't have the training needed).

Since birds hide their illnesses, be prepared to take your bird in for a checkup at least once a year-- but preferably every six months. This is not cheap. It requires lab fecal stains and possibly blood work.

And you have to be prepared to spend lots of time with them each day. Alex follows me around the house like a dog. She's out of the cage virtually every moment I'm home. But, she's also like a two year old, and, if left unattended for a moment.. can get into dangerous trouble.

Is it worth it? You betcha! You bond with them as much as a dog or cat. They become loved members of the family.

[EE-BO]

Well said.

At the store where I worked we had over 50 abandoned birds- most of which could not be resold since they had become rather nasty after being given up by owners who had them for years.

The death of a pet is a sad experience, but many find out the hard way that it is even worse to have a pet that is likely to outlive you- and will react very badly to changes in your routine such as moving or having children.

As fun as they are, I am reluctant to ever suggest a parrot, macaw or cockatoo to someone as a pet. Most of these birds, well cared for, will outlive their owners- and can go feral on you in an instant if you make any big changes to your life.

Many of the abandoned birds we cared for were brought to us because they "snapped" and got very mean when their owners moved, married, had kids, or even got other pets. This does not always happen, but it does happen. Sulfur-crested cockatoos seem especially prone to losing it in these circumstances (we had a bunch of them and talk about mean birds!)

Your points on illness are good too. One of my rescues was a badly abused Spectacle Amazon. She would not speak but she did whistle Beethoven's 5th pretty good (the first few measures anyway.)

She was badly undersized and undernourished. After just 5 years she had a heart attack, was under intensive care to the tune of $300 a day, and then died after a week.

That was the last bird I had. The work and expense was just too much.

As for screamers- one of our abandoned birds was an Umbrella Cockatoo (which I think have the best personalities of all in terms of friendliness) who was mute and could not make any noise. The owner wanted a talker and actually ended up giving up a really nice bird that would have made an ideal pet for someone who needed a quiet pet. Even though she had been abandoned she was very friendly and I hope she eventually found a good home.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I have an African Grey who says several words and phrases: Hello, I'm sorry, Hi how are you, apple, and chicken just to name a few. He says them quietly at first and then screams them until he gets attention. Sometimes he sounds exactly like me. He also whistles the telephone ring and Beethoven's Fifth thanks to the Judge Judy show. The weird things is I never actually taught him the words or the sounds. He just sort of picked them up. He is a constant source of amusement.