Does your parrot talk?

[MandyG]

Every bird is different! I don't know anything about the talking capabilities of a Black Cap Conure, that might be something that you'll want to look into or maybe another person on this forum can help with that. You should know that no bird is guaranteed to talk. Even African Greys that are known to be excellent talkers will sometimes never learn to talk. Some birds that aren't known to be very good talkers can develope quite the vocabulary. Never get a bird if you're solely wanting a bird that talks. Even if you get a mature bird that talks there's no guarantee that it will talk when you own it.

My Amazon picked up 'Hello' around 3-6 months of age. When he's learning new words they're usually nothing like the actual words. He will mumble things to himself that eventually become clear with practice. He has picked up words that I didn't want him to, and there's other words that I've been repeating since the day I got him that he hasn't picked up.

Based on my personal experience, birds tend to pick up on words that are spoken with emotion or when they're in a heightened state of emotion. Such as if you stub your toe and yell 'ow' it's quite likely the bird will add that word to their vocabulary. Or if you say hello every time you come home or enter your bird's room. If they've been lonely and waiting to see you all day and you say an excited 'hello!' when you enter the room they'll be more likely to start saying it. Repetition and consistancy also helps. Always say step up when you want your bird to step up, say hello when you see him, say 'wanna come out', and repeat the name of an item that you're giving them.

Just remember that some birds learn more slowly than others, some birds do not speak clearly, some birds never speak at all. Just love your bird for the individual that it is .

[triplebbirds]

Ok right now Pugzy who is getting ready to go to her bed room cage is talking to me
Hi pugzy butt
Pretty bird
i love you
kiss kiss
dont tell mom
puggy puggy
hi
growling
mom
mom
mom
night night
Beaks are for talking not for biting
pretty butt
hi puggy
clicking
whatcha doing
num num
put the puggy in the cocoa... she doesnt sing the rest
bed
hush up
puggy stop it
wheres budgie (my 4 year old)
i love you
hey dad (she hears hubby in the basement building the fire before bed)


So yeah she talks. She probably started when she was 6 months old. Oh yeah in case I failed to mention Pugzy is a Green Cheek Conure, AKA not a species known for its talking ability. but in my house 4/5 talk.

14 birds have at least some words they speak.

[windharper]

My Senegal does talk. I can't take credit for how this happened. He was hand raised and sold to a pet store where he interracted with at least one very interested young employee. He was in the pet store for almost 6 months and never sold. I've mentioned that he chose me....and so I feel he did, but, I never knew he talked!

The day I bought him, he hated travelling in the dark box they gave me and I kept saying, "It's okay, it's okay..." I got him home, placed him in the cage, where he just stood...probably in shock of the environment change.

I went into the garage and my husband comes out, saying "Get in here quick. Your bird is making all sorts of noises!"

I was horrified, thinking he was ill or something. I rush in to find him talking up a storm, including, "It's okay, it's okay...." Here I bought him because he was so personable. I never even thought to ask if he talked!

Within 2 days, I knew his name would have to be Tamber (phonetic spelling for the musical term 'timbre' meaning tone color). He picks up on things so very quickly. I've had him 8 months now and he laughs just like me, clears his throat just like me and (fake) sneezes like my husband. By his first birthday last August, he spoke more than 100 different statements. I do find when I am teaching him something new to say he will sort of mumble it first and as he works on it, he refines it and will eventually speak it very clearly, albeit in a higher pitched voice.

He used to only talk alot first thing in the morning and then late in the afternoon (at those flock locating times). But now he will talk all the time....especially if I lay down on the sofa (in front of his cage) for a nap. I want to get some video of him talking, but, so far he freaks out when I bring the camera out. I will need to desensitize him to it first.

[Cozzy]

4 months
He speak
daddy
good morning
up
hand

[kimbo]

no vocals from chico yet. not bothered. will just carry on talking to him, you never know he might pick something up. love him anyway..

[SirHubi]

My Cookie can only mumble something. It mumbles a lot when it watches TV or when we are playing. There is kind of rythm like blablabla-blablabla-blablabla and so on. Since i got him like two days ago we still need to practise the reaction to clicker.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Michael, I see where you are coming from, but talking -- or at least vocal communication -- is ONE of the things bird owners are interested in. I haven't had Scooter long enough to get bored with the question yet, I guess. Horse owners get asked even less tactful things with great regularity.

Much to our surprise, Scooter does talk! We didn't expect that, and it certainly isn't why we got him, but there you have it! He says "Pretty Bird". I have to admit, it sounds like a kazoo saying "Pretty Bird", but it is there. Yesterday I was working at home and I had his cage door open. He stood himself out on the seed guard as close to me as he could get and started saying it over and over until I couldn't stand it and picked him up! I don't think we taught it to him, he first said it within the first couple of days we had him. It's still just been a little over two weeks and he's 11 months old.

He talks "Scooter talk" all the time. I don't know what half of it means, but he definitely has specific sounds he makes in specific circumstances. He likes to trade clicking patterns back and forth with me. Sometimes he will repeat "shave and a haircut" in clicks. I bet I could teach him Morse Code! He says "Vrrrrp" a lot. There are also other kazoo sounds that I think are attempts to duplicate human phrases, but I can't understand them. I've thought I've heard the cat's voices coming out of him a couple times, I've thought I've heard "Uh Oh" and "Scooterbird" but these haven't been repeated enough for me to be at all sure of.

[MissLady9902]

Marvin how now been talking more.
He can now say:
Marvin
Hi
Ow
Crap
Hello

At least he says his name now! Before the only thing he'd say was ow ow crap crap ow.
(I dropped something on my toe one day)
Plus he whistles...a lot!
He makes up his own tunes, it's cool.

Noodle can say whatchya doin' but she says it in the same funny voice Kili uses.
she also whistles and beeps like the microwave, chirps like the smoke alarm low battery and says weege which I don't know what that means but she says it ALL the time!

[Suzzique]

I do understand where Michael is coming from. Though for me it is still very exciting when I hear either of the birds talking. Martini is the total closet talker. He has to be totally by himself before he will talk. He does join in with Alex when they are just "singing" (natral whistles and chirps). He does also have a very high pitched and very loud whistle that he does when I'm leaving and saying good by to them. Sense he only does it when I'm leaving I'm assuming that is his good by. Alex of corse has picked this up as well. He will on occasion do kissing noises and a purr (sounds just like a cat purring) for my daughter. When he is by himself he does say Hi Martini! He is now also working on the wolf whistle and barking like Alex. Martini was 3 when we got him and came with Hi Martini. Now at 4 1/2 he has just started working on new vocals. I always get excited when I hear new stuff.

Now for Alex. Alex didn't start "talking" until he was about 18 months old. He did start picking up vocials by about 6 months. He will be 3 in August.

Sounds
dog barking
cat calling the other cats (a kind of yowl really)
bubbles
microwave
oven timer
ray gun (though this one is rare)
chicken clucking
fire engion
sneeze (ah-woo)
laughs

Whistles
wolf whistle
into the wild blue yonder (husband taught him this one)
vaders theam (son taught him)
whistle to call the dog

Words
Hello
Roxy (dog)
shut up! (the dog yaps alot)
tastes like chicken (this goes with the chicken clucking)
step up
whatcha doin?
woo-hoo
Alex
Coriander
good bird
bad
dog
ow! ow! ow!
good morning (still working on this one a bit)
com'er (come here mushed together)

I'm sure there are a lot more I just can't think of them right off hand. Yes he uses most everything in context. Though he does have his "talking" sesions where he is just randomly saying stuff and this is when he works on new words. Some of what he says is done as a total and not just the single words which he will use as well just not as often. He yells at the dog to "Shut Up!" when she is barking. He will also do it sometimes if I'm cooking and bang a spoon on the side of a pan. That cracks me up every time. He will also bark like the dog then yell "Roxy shut up!". This he learned all on his own and put it together himself. My husband taught him the chicken cluck then tastes like chicken as a whole. So he clucks then says tastes like chicken. When he wants me to come and get him he says Alex step up. He now tells everyone coming in the door hello 90% of the time because that is what we do when we come in. He was in the kitchen with me a few weeks ago and the dog walked and he poped up and said "Hello Rox". If one of the kids brings him to me in the office when he steps down he says woo-hoo. That is what I say when I'm excited and he's done something I want him to. So he also uses it as an I'm excited about something.

I didn't think he would ever start talking. But don't give up and just keep talking to them. If they do talk already and you want to teach them something special. Then you just repeat it several times a day. Don't make it all you say but maybe say it a couple of times then move on. Then later do it again. That's what my husband and son did to get him to do the stuff they tought him.

[lzver]

Since we have 2 birds (Senegal and Red-Bellied), they feed off each other a lot when they think no one is listening. Anyways, here's what our birds say/immitate/mimmick:

Jessie - Senegal
- peekaboo, hi buddy, see you later, what's your problem (whenever he screams at my husband - I ask him what his problem is), come here, scratches, me (whenever he see me with food - he's telling me he wants some), a really big and excited 'HI" whenever I come home. We bring the birds with us to our trailer in the summer, so Jessie mimmicks more animals than I can count ... the most recognizable is a crow.

Lucy - Red-Bellied
- peekaboo, pretty birdy, what you doing, how you doing, shut-up and what (whenever Jessie screams at my husband), see you later, hi baby, and she mumbles a lot to. We think she's mimicking a conversation. She also mimicks my cell phone and you have to say hello to get her to stop ringing. And she doesn't do it so much now, but in our old house, our smoke detector would mal-function and go off for no reason, so she used to mimmick it. One time I even got up to turn the smoke detector off, when it was really Lucy.

And of course, they both laugh like me.