Posted on 01/17/2006 8:32:11 AM PST by doc30
A lot of parrots do that. When mine doesn't think anyone is around, he will go through his entire vocabulary, sometimes for hours. He did this a lot when he was very young. It was like he was practicing in private and only months later did he have the confidence to speak in front of us.
And...they taste just like chicken!
Quaker Parakeets are great also. They are not very big, and can talk up a storm!
I too have an African Grey. And yep, he imitates Scotch being poured over ice perfectly. .....as well as car alarms, microwave oven beeps, telephone and fax rings, burps (and other bodily noises), creaking doors, cats meowing, dogs barking. ....the list is long. (He also has a vocabulary of well over 100 words). A pain in the ass, but endlessly amusing.
My quaker "practices" all the time. He sings Old MacDonald & Jingle Bells. I love it when Cuddles goes through every phase & word he knows, then laughs hysterically when he is done!
We have a lot of African Grey "slaves" on FR!
:-)
great stories. I would love to one day own a parrot, but I'm a little intimidated by their life span.
...every single year. It's incredible, really.
I had a Yellow Naped Amazon who was rescued from a car dealer showroom where they taught him to yell F*** at the top of his lungs all day. He learned to mock my wife just like in the story, only thank God she wasn't cheating. However, she was pissed at being imitated constantly (which these birds can do with perfection), and he had to find another home.
Less to do with the intelligence of the parrot than the lack of intelligence manifest in what passes as normal human conversation.
Parrots are one of the few pets that typically out live their owners. Churchill's scarlet macaw is still alive and still says "F*** Hitler" and "F*** the Nazis"
If I'd had a bird like that more than 20 years ago, I'd have saved a fortune during a later divorce.
Reminds me of the time a plumber knocked on the wrong apartment door and a voice from inside yells, "Who is it?"
"It's the plumber, I'm here to fix the pipes!"
No one opens the door, so the plumber again knocks.
"Who is it?" comes a cry from inside. "It's the plumber, I'm here to fix the pipes!" the plumber hollered through the door.
Still no one opens the door, and the angry plumber pounds on the door, bang-bang-bang!
"Who is it!"
The frustrated plumber, pounding on the door, yells "IT'S THE PLUMBER!! I'M HERE TO FIX THE PIPES!!" and with that he collapses from a massive heart attack right there on the spot.
When the tennant arrives he's surprised by a dead body in the hallway - "I wonder who THAT is?" he says as he opens his front door.
"It's the plumber, he's here to fix the pipes!" says his pet parrot.
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