African Grays and Social Speech.

[imitationangel]

I know there are Gray owners here so I thought I'd link to this article.

I follow Cosmo on Facebook and saw it there this morning. I'm guessing if you read it there'll be lots of, "I could have told them that!" LOL

Comments

[tumorhead]

Since reading the tales of gray owners having meaningful conversations with their parrots, I really hope scientists get ahold of these people and learn what they can about these amazing birds. (It's probably hard to socially rear tons of the long-lived birds for study in one place, so getting data from owners across the globe would be the way to go IMO)

[zandperl]

It's gratifying to see that what we "know" about our birds turns out to be objectively true - it can be easy to fool ourselves or just misinterpret things the way that we want to.

[imitationangel]

Yes. Even with the littler guys. Sometimes I worry that I'm anthropomorphizing when Loki [quaker] says something 'in context' and dismiss it.

[zandperl]

Kappa doesn't talk, but she does sing and dance - she does one particular whistle and body motion only when I'm singing, and she seems to do it in time and in the same key as my singing. Though I haven't attempted to objectively confirm that she is "singing" and "dancing", my friends certainly think it's adorable. ^_^

She also gives me kisses - makes a kiss noise and presses her beak against my cheek. I'm definitely NOT anthropomorphizing that one though, as I've figured out that she uses it to mean a gentle "please stop pestering me and give me a bit of personal space." :-P

[imitationangel]

Loki does talk, oh boy does he talk and we frequently have 'conversations'.

But when he says, "Okay." and, "Alright." just as a matter of course during an ordinary day, his tone and his stance is vastly different from when he uses those same words to insert himself into a conversation I'm having with someone else that doesn't include him.

This morning he was staring out the window and chatting to himself, all relaxed and fluffed up. An hour later, my daughter and I were talking and, through the open doorway, he interjects, "Okay!" at the end of her sentence and he's all sleek, head tilted, waiting to see if we'll acknowledge him and let him in on the conversation.

He also laughs when we do. Not all the time and only when he wants 'in' and it's a different sounding laugh to the usual soft chuckles.

So it's nice to know I didn't imagine it. Not all the time, anyway. :P

[lnphantom]

I know my Grey can communicate! Last week she was perched beside me on the bed, and I was suffering from a bad headache. She said to me, "You okay?" I said, "No, I'm not feeling well." She said, "Kiss!" and gave me a big kiss!