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Question:

We all would love to hear some sweet little stories about your baby.  It would be a "ray of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day".  We all need to hear some nice things now and then, so please, share your stories of your bird being sweet, cute, naughty, or weird.   <3, Bunny

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I love this thread…My tiel was about a year old I would let him out and of course keep a wary eye on him at all times as I had plants. I elimated most of the toxic ones but i had bertha and I couldnt part with Bertha so I kept her. I kept the plants in a grouping by my windows. So when I would let my tiel out he would head for the plants, I would say at at at at to him. He picked this up but added a "woulda" <don’t ask me its his word> anyway to make a long story short when he knows he shouldnt be doing something he says this "woulda at at at" and I know hes where he shouldn’t be at that moment. Or if I have to cover him under his protest he tells me this pharse in hopes I will stop trying to cover him. He gives me so much joy. Go figure. Vicki C.

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Our 4-month-old cockatiel Buster doesn’t speak English yet, but he’s been chattering away in his own bird language. My favorite trait of his is his "laughter." When he looks at himself in the mirror, he laughs and laughs, just like his human roommates do! It’s really the funniest sound, and I’ve been ill for the past few weeks, so he really, really brightens my day! Lisa

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We have two Senegal clutchmates Rudy and Gomez. My husband had one on either shoulder.  Rudy was chewing on Gomez’s beak and bit his tongue, hard. Gomez stood straight up, fluffed his wings, stuck out his chest, stuck out his *tongue* and gave two sharp screams right in Rudy’s face.  It was a heck of a site! Rudy got scared, flipped around and headed back to *his* side of daddy! Gloria — Never drive farther than your angels can fly.

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> Isn’t that tiel talking the loveliest sound? My boy Bijou goes through a > whole range of sounds, one after another, and it makes me laugh. One of the > voices he uses sounds human in inflection and I wonder if he’s picked it up > from me, or do cockatiels do that anyway? No words, but a tone of voice > that I can’t help but put meanings to. "I like my perch", "I just had a > good lunch,"  "love this weather" etc. Can anyone tell me?

My cats do that.  They have th most conversational Meows and my fiance and I are always "translating" their tone of voice.  We can always tell when they’re saying "Please let the birdies out Mommy!  We’ve been so good!  We deserve a snack!"  And our finches don’t talk, but every once in a while they scold the cats.  They know darn well the cats can’t get into the aviary and I swear sometimes they’re taunting! Kimberly

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Yesterday my budgie Max waddled across the floor.  My old dog, China, a 75 pound Chow/Lab mix, was lying in her usual spot and Max hopped up on her paw, and climbed to her back.  China looked alarmed, but she knows Max is family and stayed still when I told her to.  Max proceded to settle in on her neck and gave her a good birdy grooming- until China couldn’t stand it any more and shook him off like bath water.  :-) Max took it in stride and went to his favorite look out post on the window sill.   — Signed- Kellie  USDA zone 7/8, Sunset Zone 33 My Karma Ran Over My Dogma.  It was a Catastrophe. Now my Dogma’s Dead and my Karma’s out of alignment. Get in KNEE DEEP!  <http://w3.one.net/~rzutt/newsletter.html>

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We have a year-old budgie named Casey.  When I have my shower in the morning I take him into the bedroom in a wicker basket and set him on my wife’s dresser in front of her mirror.  Several times when I’ve done this, he’s hopped up un the edge of the basket, stared at himself with his crest feathers up, and said: "Hi!" "Who’s that??" "It’s a little budgie!!" "Hi, little budgie!" First time he did it, I didn’t know if I’d make it to the bathroom in time! Second cuteness: He has a ladder going up from the ground to his cage so he can get back in (he’s clipped).  A few days ago he was climbing the ladder to go home, and as he climbed I heard him saying: "Up, up, up, up, up…" Cuteness the third: The cage is in the family room.  At 9:10 every evening he climbs onto his roosting perch, stares balefully over at us as we watch TV, and repeats firmly: "It’s time to go to sleep.  It’s time to go to sleep!" And just one more: I sleep later than my wife.  She comes in to wake me up with the bird on her hand.  Casey sees me, and says: "Good morning, sweetheart!  Did you sleep?"   He’s the first bird we’ve ever owned, and to say we are charmed, captivated and amazed is a major understatement!  How come nobody ever told me birds were this much fun? Paul

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My yellow nape is a great talker and often responds appropriately. One of the cutest incidents came about when he was sitting on his play stand one evening. I went over to scratch his head then I starting playing around with him kinda "ruffling his feathers", covering his head with my hand etc. After a few minutes he looked at me and said "Be a Good birdie NOW!" Donna D

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>Our 4-month-old cockatiel Buster doesn’t speak English yet, but he’s >been chattering away in his own bird language. My favorite trait of his >is his "laughter." When he looks at himself in the mirror, he laughs >and laughs, just like his human roommates do! It’s really the funniest >sound, and I’ve been ill for the past few weeks, so he really, really >brightens my day! >Lisa

Isn’t that tiel talking the loveliest sound? My boy Bijou goes through a whole range of sounds, one after another, and it makes me laugh. One of the voices he uses sounds human in inflection and I wonder if he’s picked it up from me, or do cockatiels do that anyway? No words, but a tone of voice that I can’t help but put meanings to. "I like my perch", "I just had a good lunch,"  "love this weather" etc. Can anyone tell me? Jenny C

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I have just recently been laid off from my job so I’m spending quite a bit of time downstairs with my husband’s white-fronted Amazon, Jeckyl. We’ve been told that he’s not too tolerant of women and will bond only with men.  In fact, he bonded with Tim even before he bought him.  Maybe because both he and the previous owner have beards. So, I’ve been sitting at the dining room/living room table watching TV while I’m doing some crafts.  During this time, I open Jeckyl’s cage.  I can pick him up but not much else.  When I have to quickly go into the kitchen, Jeckyl will sometimes try to follow me and land on the floor. I’m quite aware of this so I watch out I don’t walk on him.  I pick him up and put him on my knee for a little while.  During this time, I’m quietly talking to him and praising him if he doesn’t try to bite.  I’ll often say:"That’s a good boy!" Yesterday, I was at the table while Jeckyl was on his perch. He would talk a little but then screeched.  I knew he was just making this noise to annoy me and it worked.  Not too loudly, I turned around and sternly said: "Jeckyl!".  Jeckyl stopped screeching, looked at me then said: "That’s a good boy!"  That was the first time he’d said it and I knew I was the one to train him that.  I was so excited, I ran upstairs with him to Tim but would he say it again??  NOOOO!!!   Little smart-ass. Still, I’m proud to know that I’ve increased the vocabulary of our little guy.  I’m so impressed. –Denise Antler

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This is probably mostly visual, but I was pleased.  :-) My six-month old tiel Gizmo has recently learned to say "Tweet, tweet!" in his tiny little silvery voice, and today he was begging for attention.  I heard "Tweet, tweet, TWEEE-EEET!" and turned around to see him standing there, fluffed for preening, with his head on one side and a seed stuck to the center of his beak (he had just taken a drink). It was a Kodak moment. zg To email me, remove antispam from my address Ziggy Blum He who has rejected his demons badgers us to death with his angels. Henri Michaux

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After doing some fast thinking, I told her, "On behalf of "Sam" and "Sammie, I apologize for their action."  I then added, "I will also tell them." When I said that, she seemed satisfied.  But, I have never mentioned it to either "Sam" or "Sammie". Ken (swede)

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My roommate just got a baby Quaker named Loki.  I have a Hahn’s Macaw named Cracker who has a really big ego…one of his favorite things to say is "Good bird…good Cracker".  He has many other variations on how good he is but this is his favorite.  Anyway, about two weeks after getting Loki, my roommate was changing his water and Loki says "Good bird!".  My roommate says, "Who’s a good bird?" and Loki goes "Cracker!". Rachel

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>  I guess it’s true Quakers talk in context!!

A ceramicist I know has a pair of Quakers that live in his studio.  They were not especially tame and never spoke, until one day his wife looked into his studio and called his name. Both birds responded with a loud and cranky "WHAT?"   (And yes–it was learned from his inflection. zg To email me, remove antispam from my address Ziggy Blum He who has rejected his demons badgers us to death with his angels. Henri Michaux

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>We have a year-old budgie named Casey.  When I have my shower in the >morning I take him into the bedroom in a wicker basket and set him on >my wife’s dresser in front of her mirror.  Several times when I’ve >done this, he’s hopped up un the edge of the basket, stared at himself >with his crest feathers up, and said: >"Hi!" >"Who’s that??" >"It’s a little budgie!!" >"Hi, little budgie!"

rest snipped I am looking into getting a bird and this is REMARKABLE! Please excuse my ignorance, but "he’s clipped" – does that mean he can’t fly? AND Budgies TALK? Do all birds talk? This really makes me want to get a bird.

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->We have a year-old budgie named Casey.  When I have my shower in the >morning I take him into the bedroom in a wicker basket and set him on >my wife’s dresser in front of her mirror.  Several times when I’ve >done this, he’s hopped up un the edge of the basket, stared at himself >with his crest feathers up, and said: >"Hi!" >"Who’s that??" >"It’s a little budgie!!" >"Hi, little budgie!" >rest snipped >I am looking into getting a bird and this is REMARKABLE! Please excuse >my ignorance, but "he’s clipped" – does that mean he can’t fly? >AND Budgies TALK? Do all birds talk? This really makes me want to get >a bird.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->We have a year-old budgie named Casey.  When I have my shower in the >morning I take him into the bedroom in a wicker basket and set him on >my wife’s dresser in front of her mirror.  Several times when I’ve >done this, he’s hopped up un the edge of the basket, stared at himself >with his crest feathers up, and said: >"Hi!" >"Who’s that??" >"It’s a little budgie!!" >"Hi, little budgie!" >rest snipped >I am looking into getting a bird and this is REMARKABLE! Please excuse >my ignorance, but "he’s clipped" – does that mean he can’t fly? >AND Budgies TALK? Do all birds talk? This really makes me want to get >a bird.

Yes, "clipped" means that his primary flight feathers are clipped, so he can’t fly.  This means we can let him out of his cage for extended periods without worrying that he might fly out the door / onto the stove / behind the fridge /into a toilet. And yes, budgies do talk – some of them (like our little treasure) extremely well.  Males seem to do better at it than females, and not all males learn to talk, but those that do can get very good at it.  The Guiness Book world record for a bird’s vocabulary was a budgie who lived in England, and knew over 1000 words.  Compared to this Casey’s a bit of a piker, but we figure he knows 30 or 40 phrases, and has a total vocabulary of over a hundred words.  His voice is small, but you can recognize the same phrase said with either my inflections or my wife’s. All birds do not talk, though most parrots and parakeets learn to communicate with their human companions in some fashion.  Whether they learn to talk or not, many hookbills make tremendous pets, because they bond to their humans and interract with them as equals (or even superiors, if you let them:-). Paul Chefurka

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Meynendonckx) writes: >I am looking into getting a bird and this is REMARKABLE! Please excuse >my ignorance, but "he’s clipped" – does that mean he can’t fly?

Don’t put yourself down. We were all ignorant (regarding the care of birds) when we started keeping birds, or at least I was. I made a lot of ignorant mistakes in the last 25+ years of bird keeping. If the little guy is clipped properly, he should be able to fly well enough to land safeley. You don’t want the little guy to fall like a rock, and you don’t want him to be able to gain altitude. a lot of pet shop owners, and some vets leave the outer two primaries on each wing for appearance sake. Please ask them to clip these as well. This is a bad idea because it leaves about 1/3 of the primary surface area, and sometimes the bird can still fly. I lost a very special little gray cockatiel named fritz because of these outer primaries. Poor little Fritz flew into a wall hard and broke his keel bone, and died a painful death. >AND Budgies TALK? Do all birds talk? This really makes me want to get >a bird.

Whether a bird ever says anything or not depends on two things. 1. the intelegence of the bird. 2. does the bird like the owner well enough to imitate something s/he says? WHL (Bill)

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My husband and I are fairly new to owning budgies, and have never had any birds before. Wanting to be good parents, we’re absorbing any knowledge we can get, so we purchased a couple of books, and I read here regularly. I decided to check out some of the bird magazines (to find a source to keep us current on bird issues), and purchased the Oct. ‘97 issue of BIRDTALK. We were sitting on the couch, and budgies Guy and Missy were in their cage, which lives on one end of a very long coffee table. I read an article out loud to my husband – The Truth About Birds Is Out There! Readers share their tales worthy of an avian "X-Files" episode. One couple described how their cockatoo and blue-and-gold macaw behave when there’s an earthquake. As I read this phrase: "Both birds fall off their perches and/or thrash about their cages…", suddenly a wild thrashing occurred in the cage, and Guy fell off his perch to the bottom of the cage! Bill and I just laughed, and laughed – we had trouble going back to the article for a couple of minutes. Guy was completely unharmed, except perhaps for his dignity – I feel a little bad that we didn’t manage to say anything soothing to him right away, but the timing was just TOO perfect, and his expression was so puzzled! Jenny in NH with budgies Guy and Missy To reply by e-mail, change "heart" to "hearth"

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>We all would love to hear some sweet little stories about your baby.  It >would be a "ray of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day".

One more Kiki the Quaker and Shannon story: Shannon and her older sister Kristy (who Kiki has renamed Kritty–it’s staying with her) had to travel from NY to CO to spend nearly a month with their father.  The girls talked to Kiki on the phone and over the speaker, but it just wasn’t the same for Kiki. Shannon is Kiki’s very own human, and Kiki was ticked when the girls returned.  She welcomed her Kritty but gave Shannon the classic cold shoulder.  She even BIT Shannon on the cheek the night they returned! The next day, Shannon was delighted to hear Kiki call her as she passed Kiki’s cage.  Shannon went to Kiki, asked "What?" and got no reply.  This was repeated several times until Kiki finally looked Shannon dead in the eye and said "Butthead!"  Kiki launched into a 15-minute birdie soliloquy, giving Shannon what for.  They’ve been the best of friends ever since. Jeannie M.           {Being called "Bird brain" is a compliment!}

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>We all would love to hear some sweet little stories about your baby.  It >would be a "ray of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day".

Kiki the nutty Quaker came from a wonderful shop, Wet Pets, in upstate NY.  All in the world we were in there for was to buy 3 fish for the newly-set aquarium, and this scruffy, over-preened Quaker quietly said "Hello."  She was about 2 yrs old then, and the owner of the shop was selling her for the owner who "didn’t have time."  We left Wet Pets that day with 3 fish and 1 Quaker. Though I was the only one Kiki spoke to, she soon decided God had put me here to be her personal blood donor while she favored the male of the family.  She soon came around, though.  We’re all acceptable now (even me), but Shannon, the 9-yr-old and the youngest, is Kiki’s very favorite human in the whole world. Overtired and stressed at being behind everyone else after returning to private school after 2 yrs of our stellar public education, Shannon was hell-bent for tantrum.  Tensions high, I turned to Kiki to assure her that her Shannon was OK: "It’s OK, Miss Kiki, Shannon’s having a hard time and acting ugly." "I know." It’s common for Kiki to speak in sentences and even to hold full conversations, but I was taken aback to the point of being speechless while Shannon was mid-scream and was momentarily silent while I tried not to giggle.  When Kiki let out a very loud "Shannon!" it was all over for me. I had to go to the garage to laugh. Shannon didn’t make even one more sound. THIS must be what is meant by the term "avian discipline. . ." Jeannie M.

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ROTFLMAO!!!!! I don’t dare tell the first expression my Quaker ever learned!!!

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>Jenny in NH >with budgies Guy and Missy >To reply by e-mail, change "heart" to "hearth"

Where in NH?

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>All birds do not talk, though most parrots and parakeets learn to communicate >with their human companions in some fashion.  Whether they learn to talk or >not, many hookbills make tremendous pets, because they bond to their humans >and interract with them as equals (or even superiors, if you let them:-). >Paul Chefurka

rest snipped Do they need daily attention (besides feeding and new water)?

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> >All birds do not talk, though most parrots and parakeets learn to communicate >with their human companions in some fashion.  Whether they learn to talk or >not, many hookbills make tremendous pets, because they bond to their humans >and interract with them as equals (or even superiors, if you let them:-). >Paul Chefurka > rest snipped > Do they need daily attention (besides feeding and new water)?

Absolutely – at least an hour a day of focussed interaction.  This is what keeps them socialized.  Our budgie gets about five hours out of his cage each day, and of those at least three are spent in direct contact with us – playing, talking, riding on our shoulders as we go about our business.  We believe that this contact has turned him into the superbird he is (IOHO). Paul

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>owner of the shop was selling her for the >owner who "didn’t have time."

I didn’t realize your Quaker was also an "adoptee". I got Princess about 6 months ago from an owner "who didn’t have time for her" >  When Kiki let out a very loud "Shannon!" it was all over for me.

So many people tried to tell me an older Quaker won’t talk. Well at 3 years of age (approx) she has learned the basics. "Hello" , You can ask her if she is a good girl and she will answer "Good Girl", etc.  Well one morning I was changing all the food and water dishes (total of 3 each), i always start with the budgies and then Ozzy and then Princess last.  Each time I put a clean dish in I said " Say thank you Mommy".  When I got to her and put the last food dish in, she hopped up on it and clear as day said "Thank You !".  I was floored but thrilled!! never know what will happen next with those crazy Quakers!!   Cyndy

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