Major Mitchell Vocalizations

[cstone01]

Hello, does anyone on this forum own a Major Mitchell? I have been meaning to ask this question for a couple of months but never got around to it. We brought our major Mitchell home about six months ago, I had never really been around one. He is from a broker/hand rearer, we didn’t buy him directly from a breeder.

I have been around birds my whole life but was completely not expecting the noises he makes. I thought he would sound more like a cockatoo. He really doesn’t make normal bird noises And he is not particularly loud. I have searched on the Internet for videos of other major Mitchell’s vocalizing And have been unable to find any as they are pretty uncommon especially in the United States. I’ve also tried to read descriptions of their vocalizations and found very little.

Oleander makes a soft social type of noise that sounds like a young kitten- normal enough. He also makes a gobbling noise that sounds like a turkey on its last leg. By far the strangest noise he makes is what I’m assuming is his flock call. He made this noise the first time about five days into us having him, I was literally walking around the house trying to figure out what was making it, I thought my husband had a video pulled up on the computer or something.

The closest thing I can compare it to is Kulning- when Swedish women sing to call cows in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvtT3UyhibQ
It is truly bizarre but not particularly annoying or bothersome once you’re used to it. Do you all major Mitchell’s make these noises? Is it just a him thing? I will see if I can record it and post it somehow.

[Pajarita]

First of all, congrats on your new baby! They are BEAUTIFUL animals! But, no, If what he does sounds similar to the audio you posted, that is not their flock call and, in truth, I don't know what it is because their vocalizations are not melodic at all. They do have the little 'whimper' call, a short one with a bit of a higher pitch and the 'turkey' one but most of them are raspy KRAAAAhs And they are not the 'quietest' toos, either (that's the citron). Yours is still a baby, wait until he is five years old and then come back and tell us if you still think he is quiet

Here are all the different vocalizations of a Major Mitchell's (click on each of the little icons that appear at the bottom of the first link). I am also posting other videos where they vocalize and the last one has A LOT of very useful information on the species - they even teach you how to visually sex an adult (I don't know how accurate it is).

https://dibird.com/species/major-mitchells-cockatoo/

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ma ... &FORM=VIRE

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ma ... &FORM=VIRE

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ma ... &FORM=VIRE

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ma ... &FORM=VIRE