by Michael » Tue Mar 09, 2010 11:27 pm
There are some things you can do to stop it in the short term or the long term but really nothing for the mid term.
In the short term you can distract the bird when making the sound. Make a loud noise, do something exciting, etc. However, I would highly recommend you DO NOT do this because while it may give some temporary relief in the short term, it may encourage the bird to make the sound to get attention in the future.
In the long term you can try to minimize the use of this noise through extinction. Never react to the sound and even leave the room or ignore the parrot if it makes it. This will not stop it from making it but it will at least guarantee that you are not inadvertently promoting making it (of course assuming the parrot likes you and doesn't want you to leave).
In the mid term there is really nothing you can do but wait it out. It's kind of a phase. Kili has a phase where she was mimicking bird screeches she heard from outside. Nothing I could do about it. Really aggravated me. Luckily she barely does it any more cause I ignored it. Doesn't mean she never does it but it's far and rare as she has come up with new things to take up her time. Parrots are like kids, when they come up with a new thing, that's all they want to do. Eventually they get bored of it and try something different. What you can do is provide alternative sounds to listen to and repeat a certain word/sound over and over again to the parrot on a regular basis so that it could learn a new sound phase sooner. You can't get rid of the sound but you can do your best to avoid reinforcing it and to provide alternative sounds to mimic.