Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Does your parrot talk?

Want to teach your bird talk? Learn about and discuss methods for training birds to vocalize and mimic different sounds on cue.

Does your parrot talk?

Postby MandyG » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:38 pm

Do any of your parrots talk? How old were they when they started talking? What do they say?
User avatar
MandyG
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 946
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Yellow Crowned Amazon
Flight: Yes

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby Michael » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:49 pm

I'm not trying to single you out or say you did anything wrong but I have always taken issue to that question (as I know others have as well), "does your parrot talk?" As parrot owners this is like the first question we always get and people always assume that parrots talk and if they don't they can't be parrots. I prefer to call it vocalize because almost all parrots do make some kinds of sounds and imitations of sounds they hear. When I think of a parrot talking, I expect to hear human words.

But as parrot owners here know, they also catch onto other household sounds almost too readily. Kili's first learned vocalization was the cat call. I always joke around that she is calling Kat when she does the Kat call ;)

Since then she has learned to say "Look at me" and "Hello" but neither is perfect. You have to know that is what she is saying to understand it but the syllables are there. Finally her most recent vocalization has not been a pleasant one at all. There has been a screaming blue jay living somewhere nearby and Kili thought that was the coolest sound ever and would do it all day long!!!!

Anyway, I'm not making any bad judgments or anything personal towards you Mandy, I just get frustrated by people who always bug me with that question and expect me to pull a string on my parrot and get her to curse and say funny things. Take care.
User avatar
Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby MandyG » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:17 pm

I understand that not all parrots speak words. And as a parrot owner I know that it's very frustrating when people ask this question first then lose interest and dismiss your bird when you say no. My bird does talk and it gets frustrating when people ask if he talks but then they don't understand why he won't speak in front of them and they act like he's stupid or there's something wrong with him when he's really just shy.

Mojo is starting to develop a fairly large vocabulary. Most of his words I can make out only because I know how I say them to him so I understand what he's trying to say. His first vocalization was the cat call too, the second was 'hello' that has become very clear in the last few months.

I didn't mean to cause any frustration, I'm really just curious about what other birds say (and I do mean human words, not just vocalizations, even if they're not perfectly spoken). I don't mean to say that a bird isn't intelligent because it doesn't speak or anything like that, so please don't get my intentions wrong.
User avatar
MandyG
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 946
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Yellow Crowned Amazon
Flight: Yes

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby MissLady9902 » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:06 pm

Occasionally I hear Noolde say "whatchya doing" but it's not overly clear.
Marvin is trying to talk I can hear him say "hello" and "pretty bird" although it's not very clear.
They both love to whistle. Noodle can do the wolf whistle, my dog whistle and he also beeps like the microwave but he speeds it up and he makes the smoke alarm battery is low chirp.
Cathy

Busy beaks are quiet beaks!

:senegal: - Noodle
:gray: - Marvin
User avatar
MissLady9902
Poicephalus
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 303
Location: Columbia, Mo USA
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: A Senegal and a Congo African Grey
Flight: No

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby Natacha » Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:39 am

Piper doesn't say a word.

Shade does say some words, mostly in French.
"Shad-y-poo" (nickname for her)
"Peak-a-boo"
"Viens-t-en" (which roughly translate to "come here")
"Bisou" ("kiss")

You can see a video of her saying a few of these words here. The quality isn't the greatest though.

Joey mumbles a lot.
I did, however, teach him to say "Hey Joey" when we come through the door. Each time I go come in the appartment, I great the birds, normally in the order in which I see them. For a while (before Petey and Zuri came to live here) this meant that he was last to get his greeting. Now I don't know if he learned to say "Hey Joey" pretty fast because if he says it before I have to a chance to greet the others, I have to respond to him first (I doubt that was why he did it, but I like to think it). She does also say "She-poo" when calling Shade...he's missing a syllable there ;)

Petey is my biggest speaker. However, I heard most of her vocabulary when she first came here and was still nervous. Once she got comfortable, it kinda stopped, all but "Hey Petey" when we come through the door (it's a competition between her and Joey who can greet the faster; kinda funny).

Zuri doesn't say any clear words, but I have heard her mumble under her breath when she thinks we aren't around.
My blog http://poiworld.blogspot.com/
Videos of my birds http://www.youtube.com/user/poicephaluslady
Piper ~ Lovebird
Shade ~ Senegal
Joey & Pixel ~ Red-bellied parrots
Petey & Zuri ~ Meyer's parrots
Léa ~ Cape parrot
User avatar
Natacha
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1277
Location: Ontario, Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 7
Types of Birds Owned: PF Lovebird, Senegal Parrot, Red-bellied Parrots, Meyer's Parrot, Cape Parrot
Flight: Yes

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby Michael » Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:19 am

That's cool. What do you think is the best way to encourage Senegals to talk in front of humans? I'll hear her chatting away in her cage and the moment I show my face she gets excited and stops talking.

I forgot to post a video so here it is:



She says hello, look at me, mumbling, and cat call.
User avatar
Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby MandyG » Wed Oct 14, 2009 1:19 pm

Mojo says a few things clearly:

Hello
Hello Mojo
Hi Mojo
Come in
Good Boy
Step up
F*** Off :?
Radar! (my puppy's name)
Pretty Boy
No

He's starting to say 'want out' and a bunch of other things that I can't make out clearly.

He also wolf whistles, whistles to my dogs the way I do to call them, does a cartoon type whistle like something is falling from very far up but he hasn't caught onto the *splat* part at the end lol.

His cutest noise is the kissy noise he makes back to me when I kiss at him :) . He also makes this rolling r sound that he seems to have a lot of fun with.

And he barks. That I could do without. He'll actually bark and then tell himself to F Off or yell Radar or Molly (a coonhound I was fostering that taught him how to bark).

Update: Mojo's started to laugh when we laugh, or he seems to always catch it when my husband is poking fun at me for something and Mojo will start laughing at me. Which of course makes me laugh and then he gets really excited. He's also saying 'wanna come out' and different variations of 'pretty bird'. And on occasion if he bites when he steps up he'll tell himself he's a good boy...

His latest is saying "Scratch scratch scratch?" when he wants a neck/head scratch :)
Last edited by MandyG on Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:28 pm, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
MandyG
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 946
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Yellow Crowned Amazon
Flight: Yes

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby BirdBrain » Sat Nov 14, 2009 10:32 pm

:quaker:
first time post and clearly a month behind on this topic, but I just joined up today. Yes, my monk/quaker parrot talks a bit. I thought he would have developed much more "words" or phrases by now, but not so much. I know he CAN say lots more than he's willing to share with us when asked. He gets parrot stage fright, I guess. When off by himself OR quite the opposite, when I'm on the phone and he seems to feel like he's got competition...he will mumble a string of words and/or phrases.
However, so far, he can clearly and intentionally vocalize the following:
Hey Baby
Good Boy (which I say most often to my male dog)
Uh-Oh
Gentle
Kiwi (his name)
mimic kiss kiss sounds
"foxy lady" whistle
and he's starting to make a sound we think is a mimic of one of us laughing. That's pretty funny.

And just for fun, he will offer his foot to shake your finger when you say, "It's nice to meet you."
BirdBrain
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Location: North Carolina
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Quaker Parrot
Flight: No

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby MandyG » Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:11 am

BirdBrain wrote:And just for fun, he will offer his foot to shake your finger when you say, "It's nice to meet you."


That's adorable! Nice to see a parrot that's so polite ;)
User avatar
MandyG
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 946
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Yellow Crowned Amazon
Flight: Yes

Re: Does your parrot talk?

Postby jaatee » Thu Dec 17, 2009 8:51 pm

I have a 6 month old Black Cap Conure who doesn't vocalize words yet but he does join in with cherping when he heres certain sounds like people singing on TV or someone talking loud in the room. But no words yet. I am always working on "HELLO" with him but no response yet. This is my first bird so I don't know what to expect time wise. What age will they normally start with words? thanks
jaatee
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Black Cap Conure -6 months old on November 30, 2009
Flight: No

Next

Return to Training Parrot Vocalizations

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store