My sister has an African Grey (named Gabby) who can not only repeat an entire telephone conversation, including the sound of the telephone ringing, but when another of her birds falls off its perch, will ask anxiously, “Are you all right?”
They are now teaching him to sing the Doxology - to the tune of Hernandos Hideaway.
They are obviously very intelligent birds.
Grays are estimated to have the intelligence of a 3 yo.
My gray is 6yo and we estimate she has over 1000 words or phrases. She has a sense of humor and will laugh at appropriate occasions. She’ll also make up jokes and laugh at them, make fun of the dogs and other birds, and comfort the other birds if they appear agitated. When I enter the room she calls my name, makes kissy noises, wolf whistles, and then says “give a cracker”. If I do, she then says “mmmm, thank you”.
Grays are just outstanding companion birds.
Buster’s vocabulary is much larger, of course, than the three phrases I mentioned. They develop a changing repertoire as they get older. He seems to have forgotten a lot of the words and phrases he learned as a baby. He is contextual in a couple of instances. He can tell me when he wants water, when he wants to be covered, or when he want apple/cookie/cracker/peanut. He has a horrible “cough” sound that is ANNOYING. Then, he says “Blesssss you! Thank you!”