And the parrot says.....

Most of you guys are aware that I have a small parrot. He's a hahn's macaw named Cypress, and is the source of all cuteness and adorable behavior that I'm exposed to. (...as opposed to Gertrude the Hound who engages in devious mischief, often with annoying results.) Like most birds, Cypress will step onto my finger when I tell him, "step up." Also like most birds, he'll repeat that phrase when he wants to be picked up.

Any time I offer him food, I say, "Want some?" and he has taken to using that phrase (with the same questioning inflection) to indicate that he does want something. He'll even yell it loudly when he wants things that have not been offered to him.

Today, I heard him make a novel combination:
Me: [Offering the bird some left over stuffing] "Want some?"
Cypress: "Step up want some"

He may not have the grammar of an african grey, but he certainly knows how to make his intent obvious.

He's a hahn's macaw, and today he said something I'd never

That's cool. I have a good friend who has kept a Timneh African Grey for over 25 years. Pretty amazing animals.

Yeah, people have been afraid to use the "L" word regarding birds and speech for years, because language is such an abstract and fluid concept, and its actual use is something we see very seldom in all but a very few animals. Yes, many animals use sound to communicate concepts, but there's still a jump from mere symbology to actual language.

But anyone who's spent time with birds—especially the traditionally smarter ones like parrots or crows—has seen them take a sound or a gesture and recontextualize it to communicate a different concept than the way they originally learned it. While that may seem like an incredibly simple concept to us, it's a sign of a REALLY advanced thought process, and something we see in very few animals.

jg

In reply to JG Pasterjak:

I was always amazed at how my brother's parrots would use the same phrase to screw with the cats, but be able to use different inflections of the same words, depending on how close a cat got to the cage.

Closer a cat would get, the birds would be more arrogant. Fun to watch.

JG Pasterjak wrote: But anyone who's spent time with birds—especially the traditionally smarter ones like parrots or crows—has seen them take a sound or a gesture and recontextualize it to communicate a different concept than the way they originally learned it.

I've seen it frequently with my parents' African Grays, but it is less common with my macaw. That's why I was impressed.

Sounds familiar

We just got a Quaker Parrot, maybe 2 months old now? She says he's gonna be talking any day now, and he's already repeating sounds we make. She showed me an awesome video of a parrot singing "let the bodies hit the floor!" but with an emphasis on FLOOOOOOR!

I have nothing to add, other than a joke:

A parrot has the habit of jumping on hens, so the farmer tells him that if he does it again he will pull out every feather on its head. The parrot jumps on the hens again, and his head feathers are all pulled out. Meanwhile, the farmer's wife, who has pretentions to culture, is having a formal dinner. She appoints the parrot to be butler and to tell the guests where to put their hats and coats. The party proceeds without mishap, with the parrot announcing, "Ladies to the right! Gentlemen to the left!" Suddenly, two bald-headed men enter, and the parrot says, "You two chicken-berkeleyers come out in the hen house with me."

"Go to Africa, there's millions of 'em!" Oh wait. Different joke.

poopshovel wrote: "Go to Africa, there's millions of 'em!" Oh wait. Different joke.

Les told me that joke years ago and it's still a favorite of mine.

"...I berkeleyed a parrot once. Thought maybe you were my kid."

my favorite parrot scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pN7nmzuvNc

thar she blows

Friend of mine had an African Grey. Little bugger had learned how to get into cabinets and such. Blew my mind one day when I walked into his kitchen and heard this whispered "OH E36 M3!"

Apparently I had busted the bird in the process of getting into a cabinet and helping himself to the bag of unsalted peanuts kept in there.

Spinout007 wrote: Friend of mine had an African Grey. Little bugger had learned how to get into cabinets and such. Blew my mind one day when I walked into his kitchen and heard this whispered "OH E36 M3!" Apparently I had busted the bird in the process of getting into a cabinet and helping himself to the bag of unsalted peanuts kept in there.

My mother used to praise my dad's African Grey when he was good ("Rembrandt is a good boy") and scold the bird if he misbehaved (i.e. "Rembrandt is a poo-poo bird".) One day he in a bad mood and trying to destroy things. She put him back in his cage, which made him even angrier.

As she locked the door, he gave the staccato warning whistle of an angry grey,. To make it perfectly clear what he meant, the bird followed up with "Mommy is poo-poo bird."

Yes, he came as close as he knew how to calling her a E36 M3head

what does deep fried African Grey taste like ?

Lizard.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/study-more-children-growing-up-in-singleparrot-hou,35303/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview:2:Default

Growing up we had parrots and were close friends with the proprietor of the local parrot shop (Byerly's). One day they get a call from an irate customer asking why someone kept hanging up on them when they called. "When did you call" "Last night around 9" The store closed at 8. So they set up a video camera. Sure enough the shop mascot, an African Grey had figured out how to unlock his cage and was wandering around when the phone rang. He picked up the phone and clear as day "Hello Byerly's....uh huh...yeah...okay...bye" and hung up the phone.

And this is the video Jerry mentioned because its so worth watching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uguXNL93fWg

My aunt has had various parrots over the years, as well as my mom actually. I still have a scar on my finger from when Tiki (my moms Eclectus or however you spell that, beautiful red bird) bit the hell out of my finger. This was back in the days of home phones that had pagers on the base to locate the handset, and the bird would mimic that infernal noise all goddamn day because my younger brothers were constantly fighting over the phone.

As this thread is now a dumping ground for parrot humor (countdown to Monty Python?), the most excellent Oatmeal had an interesting childhood experience with an evil one (or maybe his family were jerks. anyhow...).

JG Pasterjak wrote: Yeah, people have been afraid to use the "L" word regarding birds and speech for years, because language is such an abstract and fluid concept, and its actual use is something we see very seldom in all but a very few animals. Yes, many animals use sound to communicate concepts, but there's still a jump from mere symbology to actual language. But anyone who's spent time with birds—especially the traditionally smarter ones like parrots or crows—has seen them take a sound or a gesture and recontextualize it to communicate a different concept than the way they originally learned it. While that may seem like an incredibly simple concept to us, it's a sign of a REALLY advanced thought process, and something we see in very few animals. jg

Crows

In reply to confusedbyclouds:

Cool video!

JThw8 wrote: Growing up we had parrots and were close friends with the proprietor of the local parrot shop (Byerly's). One day they get a call from an irate customer asking why someone kept hanging up on them when they called. "When did you call" "Last night around 9" The store closed at 8. So they set up a video camera. Sure enough the shop mascot, an African Grey had figured out how to unlock his cage and was wandering around when the phone rang. He picked up the phone and clear as day "Hello Byerly's....uh huh...yeah...okay...bye" and hung up the phone. And this is the video Jerry mentioned because its so worth watching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uguXNL93fWg

I love that one. Hatebeak is also amusing: death metal with a parrot lead singer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwXKR9EWhXo

My parents have an African Grey. It seems like he learns new phrases and words all the time. I used to think that he was just mimicking the sounds. But it's always more than that. When he sees us cooking, it's "Ready to eat?" "Let's eat!".

I walked in the house once and called for my sister. He answered in her voice "What?".

He also plays a game when we let him out where he just follows you around and bites you (he sees the dogs do it, but he doesn't know they're not hurting us). I got annoyed by it once, and I jumped up and made a loud noise. He flapped his wings and scooted back and yelled "E36 M3!". He started to do it again, so I jumped and made more noise and his response was a high-pitched "berkeley you!" He stopped playing that game for the rest of the day.

Ours is just now starting to call the pit bull. "Ema". "Ema". Sometimes changes to "Step up" which is what we say to get him to step up on our finger.