Why do people insist that when birds talk they have no idea what they are saying?

Question

Conversation wise between my macaw and amazon can be quite entertaining. When Baby wants me she tells me to come here. When I am doing something that Fuego cannot see he asks "what are you doing" They both tell me goodbye when I leave, they welcome me when I come home. Special treats are welcomed with Mmm good OR hey, THANK YOU! When they need extra attention and I cannot give it to the instantly the tone changes to almost a whine, kinda like a child begging. I don't know but sounds like they can put two & 2 together pretty darn good. This is only a small portion of the interesting actions that keep me in awe every single day....Any input?

See them on this paGE:

http://webpages.charter.net/rjsworld/pages/fam2.htm

And to vrborn2njoy

WHAT? My birds talk better than you do...

And both my macaw and amazon are potty trained. We have not had a single accident all summer.

Answer 1

You are absoluteIy correct.
It is possible and it has been proven that parrot are cognicent. Dr. Irene Pepperberg rocked the world of Science back in 1999, when she published a paper titled: "The Alex Studies- Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots". She developed what is called "The Model-Rival Training Techinique". This technique uses 2 humans and a parrot "subject" to not only learn "language", but the actual meanings of the words. Alex, her African Grey Parrot is now world famous for his extensive vocabulary and comprehension of words, phrases, and labels of objects, matter and color. He understands the concept of size, shape, category and sameness He also has proven he understands the concept of zero...that is, the absence of an object...actually a very difficult concept to understand.
Alex (named for the phrase, Avian Learning EXperiment) just turned 30 this summer, and is still learning more things.
PBS did a feature a while back on Alex and Irene in a Program called "Pet Tech" hosted by Alan Alda You can watch it here:

http://www.pbs.org/saf/1201/video/watchonline.htm

Alex's website is right here:
http://www.alexfoundation.org/

Here is another link to a transcript and audio recording of Dr. Pepperberg describing Alex's abilities:

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pepperberg03/pepperberg_index.html

It is a facinating subject, and Irene's "Model-Rival" technique has been adopted by therapists working with autistic children and it has been used with tremendous success.
"The Alex Studies" is an interesting book if you can get through all of the scientific data, but once you wade through the footnotes and charts, you come away with the realization that this experiment was absolutely airtight. She did an incredible job designing the experiments and recording her data.

I've found that most people are unaware of recent discoveries about parrots. They have no clue about what has been learned even in the last 20 years or so, even in regard to basics such as parrot nutrition, housing and training. The public at large is catching up, but for the most part they are unaware of the latest findings.
You are obviously doing an amazing job with your birds. You are most likely an instinctive trainer with a nose for behavior and have trained your birds to cognitively understand you and respond appropriately. Congratulations! I would love to know the techniques you are using to achieve the results you've gotten!

Answer 2

Parrots are very intelligent. There is a researcher who has trained an African Gray Parrot to indentify shapes, colors and textures. I am not sure the bird can say each word but it can pick up a blue key or yellow square, etc. and it shows that parrots have cognitive skills that most people don't want to believe that they have. It has a terrific vocabulary also, which it uses appropriately.

Did you hear about the guy who had the term bird behavior reclassified in the international biology community so that the term "bird brain" is no longer considered derogatory.

I had an Amazon Lilac Crested Parrot for awhile. He was quite a character. I had never known prior to having that bird, how emotional and bright birds are.

I am sure your birds communicate with you.

Answer 3

People are wonderful but highly arrogant creatures. Those who don't live with a bird seem to be intimidated by the fact that another life form can actually talk with a basic understanding of what they are saying. I fear that man kind doesn't want to admit to the true intelligence of the feathered friend. At the same time, if one is to believe science then our prehistoric ancestors were birds! Doesn't it make sense then that these wonderful winged creatures are much smarter than many want to give credit for. We have been taught that only humans can learn to talk and understand our verbal language. Those of us that have lived with birds realize this is absurd and we appreciate the intelligence our birds display daily.

Answer 4

I find it really depends on the person. Some people use religion as reason, feeling that only humans are capable of anything 'human'. Others have heard it from third and fourth sources without doing their research. Others just have no interest in animals and they believe what misled folks say. Others refuse to anthropomorphism animals in Any way. Others have done their research but the research they've discovered is old, giving them an outlook that is 20 years old. Science used to believe that birds were stupider than mammals due to their rather unfolded brain shape. Mammals have brains that have ridges which gives them more room for neurons and receptors that promote intelligence. If it wasn't for Irene Pepper bug we would still believe that birds were dumber than rocks.

Personally I feel it's outright human arrogance. We think that because we're apes and we can build sky scrapers that we're the greatest thing out there. People don't bother looking up and testing things and would prefer to assume we're smart and everything is not. Meanwhile pet owners have been screaming for decades that many animals are a whole lot smarter that we give them credit for. I'm glad Alex and Irenese Pepperburg have been helping change attitudes.

I do believe you when you say you have entire conversations with your birds! I breed cockatiels, green cheek conures, finches and Japanese quail. My cockatiels may not be able to speak but they will change their screeches and whistles as you say your birds change their tone. Redshift, my founding cockatiel cock, will 'ask' what I'm doing at the computer by chirping with a sliding note. He knows what I'm doing. He KNOWS what I'm saying and responds in turn with a proper answer. If I don't put him to bed at a certain time he will say 'Night night!' until I turn the light off. My founding conure hen, Bolivia, will start games with me, even though she doesn't speak. If I don't feed her, she will look at me in such a way that says 'FEED ME! Please?' . It's all body language in her case and it's more than me thinking she acts human. Humans have similarities to what many animals do but it doesn't make them incapable of human like things. Alex the Grey parrot that Irene Pepperburg is experimenting on has shown he can count, name different items, name their shape and size, name the matierial they're made of, knows the meaning of 'want', 'different', 'same', 'zero' (something humans have only discovered in the past 1000 years or so!), and many other ideas. He even invents names for things. An almond is a 'cork nut'. Irene is even trying to teach one of her new experimental subjects how to use a bird enabled computer! Greys have shown that not are they only smart, but they're smarter than apes, monkeys, dolphins... everything but humans!

I love my Birds! Stupid they are not! ^.^

Answer 5

The larger species do have larger brains & are capeable of seeming to understand. They still only have the intelligence of a toddler for the most part. I am NOT putting your birds down, I have a senegal who speaks too, & he doesn't even have the capacity that yours do! There have been studies of Grays that have them high in comprehension. They also say that budgies have a large vocabulary too, but I think most of that is mimic.

Answer 6

Geez I am SO GLAD to see someone on here that treats their birds RIGHT. It's so sad answering these questions about people who know nothing about birds... I really think birds should be owned by people who take proper care of them, or not owned at all. They're too intelligent to leave in a small cage their entire (long) lives! By the way... how did you potty train your birds? [e-mail] thanks!!!

Answer 7

Reminds me of whilst my dad had "the speak" with me. He simply went the medical direction and by no means defined how intercourse can mess along with your head and by no means advised me approximately the change among lust and love. When you may have a further cross at this speak try to quilt a few of the ones bases too. Of direction, despite the fact that he can realise the medical intercourse in a yr the emotional disorders might be larger addressed at an older age whilst he can realise them larger. Probably you must seem at this as no longer only a "one time" speak, however a continuous procedure over a couple of years taking every subject of problem at something age he turns out first-class in a position to take hold of the inspiration.

Answer 8

birds like parrots are really dumb like an animal with no brains. There is no question that some parrots show signs of intelligence. Yet, it is important to understand that these mimicking birds do not really understand what they are saying. Parrots just repeat sounds that they have been taught. Talking to a parrot is basically like talking to a tape player or a Furby doll. (And even then, you never know if a parrot will talk back.) The fact is, even though some birds can be "trained" to do certain things, they cannot reason or have real, human-like conversations.

Answer 9

Nobody said that.
I think you made that up so you can brag about your birds. Not to say that your birds aren't worth bragginig about, they actually sound quite nice. Just trying to answer your question in the best way possible.

Answer 10

im told that birds dont understand the consiousness of the words they speak but only the repetition for instance perhaps you have used all of these same words in front of your birds in similar situations and thats what there trying to mimic but if you believe they understand thats fine too perhaps you should show them to someone who is a bird enthusiast they would be able to help more than i