It has taken me rather a long time, years in fact, to decide on his official names, as he may be called Aai Aai for short! Two A's for his initials, of course, with the added 'i's' to round it off nicely. He has had so many names since I've had him as a baby parrot as he truly is a ray of sunshine in my life.
I have always been fascinated by parrots, especially the bigger ones, the talkers. Early on I read that these guys are the true talking parrots and we have all seen documentaries about Alex, the African Grey Parrot who could decide for himself and come up with the right answers when asked certain questions. We have all heard or read or seen on tv, that the experts believe them to have the brain capacity on par with that of a child of five years old. All people have some idea about parrots, their ability to talk, and so, when I got my baby, I was over the moon. I have yet to return from the moon!
When I got my parrot as a youngster, he was very shy and afraid of people. When animals are afraid, they either try to hide away, or they bite out of fear. This little one was no exception and let me tell you, parrot beaks are very hard and very sharp and they draw blood easily. I did not know too much about the breed and was reading up ferociously but I really wanted to make friends and reassure my little bird that I was no predator about to gobble him up!
One day I held him, carefully, in my hand, trying to stroke his head and befriend him, but he was only content to sit with me. I had a bit of a brainwave and grabbed a peanut or two, showed him the peanut and as he happily grabbed it to start peeling it, I gradually and very gingerly started stroking his head with the other hand. He adored it and from then on we became fast friends!
Some parrots are naturally shy and others are quite social. My little one is naturally shy, so when people visit he tends to go quiet or try to be threatening by puffing himself up into a little fluffball! He has even made growling noises when children visited and he royally dislikes cigarette smoke! Needless to say, this is a non smoking environment...;-)
Alida and her family laugh at our antics, but my African Grey is more human to me than anything else. He likes to cuddle with me and readily moves nearer when I approach his cage and asks him if he would like to sit with me. He responds with a "Come" and then promptly climbs down and up onto me when I open his cage. He perches on my shoulder or he climbs into the crook of my arm to be cradled like a baby or positions himself to get a tummy scratch. When it is time for a bath (for me!) he will sit on the side of the tub and keep me company, sometimes singing along with me, or dancing or playing with the water. He gets along well with my brother, but he would never dream of taking him out of his cage, as he has bled a few times in the past for being a little too sure of himself, poking a finger into the cage for a second or so too long or simply for not being fast enough. The parrot even makes a laughing sound should he catch my brother off guard....!
Some Greys form a really close bond with their humans, so much so that they will regurgitate 'presents' and present them to their human. I have received a number of slightly digested and gooey sunflower seeds etc. You have to be really happy when you receive these gifts, as they are only given to The One in their lives. Parrots in the wild will regurgitate to their mates, and so, when this honour befalls you, you have to display the appropriate gratitude!
I have not had my parrot sexed as I believe that he is a male. There is method to my madness, as I have observed a number of other females, all of which have some kind of nesting instinct, they tear the newspapers at the bottom of the cage into shreds, they wash everything in their waterbowls and tend to be quite destructive inside the cage. They generally don't preen as much too. The females also do not make certain sounds, as I think the male may be somewhat more vocal towards the female and my little one has specific noises he makes before the regurgitation starts. I met one other parrot who also quite liked me and made the same noises, but the females may like you, yet they do not make those specific sounds. Those sounds are hard to explain, but the closest I can venture is that they sound like a little baby bird wanting attention.
Normally people are not interested in the finer aspects or traits of these birds, as described above. They want to go straight to the most popular aspect of the African Grey Parrot. Their talking. So yes, he talks, and boy does he ever talk! They are highly intelligent as we have mentioned before, and so I do not think teaching parrots three syllable swear words is much of an accomplishment! My parrot does not swear and I do not allow swear words near him as they will pick up on those quite fast for the simple reason that those words do not take much intelligence to learn. (Perhaps people can catch the hint here...)
He whistles and he sings and when he is concentrating on something you said, you can see it in the eyes and in the way he cocks his head. Listening intently to process later on. He is quite clear when he speaks and people can generally hear what he is saying, unless it is something that he is still practicing.
He whistles the MacGyver themesong and he sings 'Jan Pierewiet' but in such a way that he has me in stitches every time I hear it. Sometimes he forgets and then he adds whatever comes into his head to complete the song or the line or the lyric. He mashes sentences that he has learnt and the outcome is often quite hilarious as well as fitting. He says "Knight Rider" with the real American twang and he will ask you what sound the Car makes (K.I.T.T, remember?) He will then proceed and make the sound...:-)
He has moods, just like people and sometimes he wants to be left alone. Sometimes he wants to stay in his cage and at other times he has to come out NOW and then he will proceed to bite at his cage, so that you can run there and open up. Sometimes he wants a snack and if he sees YOU with one and you have not given same to him, then there will be trouble.
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