by Pajarita » Mon Aug 26, 2019 1:23 pm
My male senegal, Sweetpea, also uses cognitive language virtually all the time... he even makes jokes and laughs after them. His name was supposed to have been Sabu (the name of an Indian youth actor from way back) but he has never responded to it and he calls himself Sweetpea as in he asks: "What's your name?" And used to answer: "SWEETPEA!!!" but nowadays, he asks the question and expect me to answer it correctly or he answers "Sweetpea. That's right" Sometimes, he asks the question and answers "Pretty bird" and, when I tell him that's not his name, he laughs. Also, when he asks for me to answer "Sweetpea" and I don't, he keeps on asking and asking, louder and louder, until I reply correctly when he says "That's right'.
But that is only one example. He knows lots of words and phrases he uses to communicate accurately... like Good morning in the morning and Night night at night (his other joke is to say Good evening at any point during the day because he knows I will laugh and call him 'Silly bird". He is also very good at ordering and 'translating' for other birds, telling the new birds to eat a new food when I am offering it to them ("Eat it!) to go into their cages when it's time for them to do it ('Get in. Get in there!") and even telling them to "Stop it!" when he gets mad.
A few days ago, I forgot to give him and Zoey Senegal (to whom he says: "You are such a pretty bird!") their dinner and, when I came downstairs after feeding the birds in the big species room, he was loudly asking: "What's the matter? Night night! Eat it!" (he thinks that "Eat it" is human speech for food).
And I can go on and on with examples of cognitive speech from him but, in all honesty, although other birds have made the connection between certain actions or people and the words that represent them, he is the only bird I've ever had (and I've cared for hundreds when I had the rescue) that uses true cognitive speech so I don't think there are that many out there...