Why does your bird scream or talk quietly, jibber jabber, etc.

Mare Miller

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May 14, 2011
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sierra foothills of central California
Parrots
13yr. old male umbrella cockatoo,
we call him Amigo!

7yr. old Goffin cockatoo, she IS Sassy!!
Mine does for specific reasons. He speaks quietly when he's content and feeling good, (or sometimes, romantic), he has what I call his 'alarm call'. That is when something is in his territory that he feels should not be there. He has a 'flock call', if he is looking for me, he will do this call. Mostly, these are what I hear during the day. I never hear sounds coming from my bird for no reason. At evening time, when the sun is going down, he will go OFF!! I believe that is to let his flock know where he is, (as though we need help, geez). I also think, in Amigo's case, he's letting all who are in his territory, know that he is there and there will be no trespassing!!
 

cnyguy

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Apr 23, 2010
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Syracuse, NY
Parrots
Quaker parrot, Ralph
Ralph is a fairly quiet Quaker. He doesn't have a Big Squawk in the morning or evening like many parrots do. He does flock-call, but not too loudly; most of the time, he substitutes a clicking sound for a squawk when calling for me. The occasional alarm call can get pretty loud-- they are mostly heard when Ralph sees a wild bird or squirrel on the balcony. Even though he doesn't go out there, that's still Ralph's balcony and he tolerates no uninvited visitors. :) Ralph doesn't talk a lot; when he does, it's not very loud. He mumbles and mutters quite often, softly enough so I can't quite tell if he's trying to say actual words or not. :D
 
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Mare Miller

Mare Miller

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May 14, 2011
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sierra foothills of central California
Parrots
13yr. old male umbrella cockatoo,
we call him Amigo!

7yr. old Goffin cockatoo, she IS Sassy!!
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I think that the mumbles and mutters mean quite a lot, in bird speak, (my opinion) . Living with a free flight bird, I have come to sense that their vocalizations have different meanings for different situations. There is NO mistaking the "alarm" call. I am sorry that I'm not familiar with any bird besides a U2. I'm curious to see how much alike our parrots really are in relation to their calls.
 
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BillsBirds

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Jan 9, 2012
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Largo, Florida
Parrots
Timneh African Grey (Bailey), Lovebird (Elvis)
A lot of times, that "jibber, jabber" (at night, particularly), is when they practice words to say. If you listen closely, often you'll hear sounds that seem to be parts of words that they are forming & practicing in their brains. They seem to go over & over what they are trying to say. And after they learn the words, they'll say them to themselves as if to memorize them. I love that!
 
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Mare Miller

Mare Miller

Banned
Banned
May 14, 2011
1,260
Media
2
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sierra foothills of central California
Parrots
13yr. old male umbrella cockatoo,
we call him Amigo!

7yr. old Goffin cockatoo, she IS Sassy!!
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I've never heard Amigo do the jibber, jabber. I remember Molcan2 talking about it with her Moluccan, Rome, and couldn't relate. I was in the pet shop that I buy supplies at, last week, and they had an M2 in there doing THE jibber, jabber!!! I could hear his voice the second I walked into the store. Their voice is amazing! Really different from anything I've ever heard come out of Amigo's beak!
 

lene1949

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Sep 26, 2011
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Brisbane, Australia
Parrots
Cory: Short billed Corella -
Echo: Galah -
Max: Alexandrine -
Skye: Yellow Sided conure -
Luka: Green Cheek Conure -
RIP Shrek: Quaker
My birds feel it's their duty to alert my dog, so he can start barking... The birds hear things ahead of the dog... but, it works...
 

wenz2712

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Codie jibber jabbers for about an hour each day! Its usually early evening time and always when she is in her Cage :) She also squawks very, very loudly whenever she cant see me!! I am working on that one by trying to ignore her when she does it!
 

suebee

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Jan 13, 2011
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nut is a quiet bird, she only calls out when she is caged and there is some1 else in the house, in another room, even these are a polite excuse me?? ahem.... type call.

she can also do a quiet high pitch siren scream! when she feels her calls are not being answered, this is rare and only happens when she knows we have guests in another room, and she cannot see/greet them

when she is caged, and she knows some1 is leaving, she will say bye bye as we walk out the door, she never says it if person leaving is in the room

when content or to greet ppl she likes she mumbles *i love you, i think she thinks saying *i love you, also means she can then go on, to chewing your clothes, zips, buttons etc

but what i have noticed is, that when we gather as a family, especially after being out, she will mumble or jibber jabber sounds as if to join in our conversations

amigo sounds like he has the life of reily, the kinda life we wish we could provide for our birds
 

Mayden

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Apr 22, 2010
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UK.
Parrots
Merlin & Charlie (Senegals)
I'd agree, Amigo has one lovely lifestyle. Very jealous :)

Merlin is vocal, but not annoyingly vocal. He does pleasent whistles and chatters away to himself. When he's tired his whistles become low, quiet and drawn out. He does flock call when someone leaves the room, but this usually stops after about 5 mins or so when he realises that we're not coming back for him whilst he screams. He then turns to pleasant whistles and we'll come back to him.

He makes a laughing kind of sound whenever we laugh, or he'll do it after we/he has dropped something, it's always very good timing. He also does a clicking noise, which he's learnt from us and he does that often too, just wandering about on the floor and he'll tut tut tut. :)

I can certainly tell what mood he is in from his whistles. + he knows which whistles get him out of trouble! If he's destroying something he'll do his cute, quiet 'wooo' whistles which makes me and my other half melt. Hm, I love Merlin. <3

Just took a short video, he's quite sleepy but he's interested in the camera, so he's tutting and woowooing :)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPm4-0obQgk"]Merlin vocalising! - YouTube[/ame]
 
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caliopi

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Jan 30, 2010
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Melbourne, Australia
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Eclectus Parrot
King Parrot
Puffin always starts his day with a practice of his vocabulary and it always starts the same way......as soon as he hears me turn the kettle on it's " dad, I want a cup of tea" then he just goes on and on saying all he knows. As soon as I take his cover off I get a " Good morning" and he jabbers away until I give him breakfast. As soon as I put my foot on the stairs he starts calling " HAYLEY" ( my daughters name) and he continues to call her VERY LOUDLY until she gets out of bed and yells back " I am up!". Through the day he just talks on and off, he has 50 different ways he says " hello" and at night he sits with us watching tv and chats away and this is usually when we notice something new he has learnt.Tonight he new one is " what" and I think so far he has said it 60 times!
 

lizardsmells

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Dec 2, 2011
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Eastern panhandle of WV
Parrots
Kazi - 13 yr old yellow nape amazon rescue
Kazi has his contact call (a piercing whistle) and his alarm call, but mostly he greets me and tells me what a good boy he is :)

He does the 'jibber jabber' after his shower and sometimes when he's dozing off on me at night before bed or a nap. He talks non stop in the car most of the time and during his shower. He rarely screams, but he has done it before either because life is just that awesome or because I'm sitting *right here* and not answering him or paying enough attention to him.

He also has a crying infant he picked up from somewhere (his previous home, I guess) that sets my teeth on edge, so I have to ignore it although sometimes I threaten him with, "I'm calling the South Americans! (for parrot recipes)" and I keep waiting for him to threaten me with it.

I love listening to him when he's practicing. He'll meow and ask himself "what sound does a rooster? (he always forgets the last word)" then he'll crow like a rooster and bark like the dogs and I'm fairly certain he's been practicing THE bad word of all bad words and calling either myself or the cats MFers. But when he says 'Hey buddy!" in his adorable tiny voice I just melt.

Lately he's picked up "WHEEEEEEEEE" which he'll scream if he's having a really good time. He just amazes me with all the things he picks up.
 

aliray

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Jan 28, 2012
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Rotonda West , Fla
Parrots
yellow sided green cheek conure,Chiquita Quaker parrot Sweetie Pie, African red bellied parrot Tiki, spanish timbrado canary Lucas
thanks for the video of merlin. very pretty but his eyes are facinating wtching his pupils constricting then widening. It is a lot harder to see in my quaker. Alison and sweetie pie:D
 

Mayden

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Apr 22, 2010
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UK.
Parrots
Merlin & Charlie (Senegals)
thanks for the video of merlin. very pretty but his eyes are facinating wtching his pupils constricting then widening. It is a lot harder to see in my quaker. Alison and sweetie pie:D

We call it his psycho eyes. He does it an awful lot, mostly when excited I suppose. We love it. I was very excited for the yellow in his eyes to appear when he was a baby so we could see his eye pining more.

Thanks all, he knows he's a cutie so I won't tell him, his head will get too big! ;)
 

evesta

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Mar 22, 2012
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Nebraska
Parrots
House and Wilson-Lineolated Parakeet Brothers
My boys, even when loud, aren't very loud but make little versions of the contact call and intruder call. When they are happy they chatter, sometimes make a quaking noise and make the linnie cluck/giggle thing they do. They are just a few months old but they are starting to jibber jabber like they are trying to figure stuff out. They usually do that when they think no one is around.;)

House is definately more chatty, clucking through eating and sometimes sleeping He also likes to "chew me out" while head bobbing. He does this usually on my shoulder, or in my hair(my hair drives him nuts!) right in my ear so it seems louder than it is. He also often does that when he is jeoulous and wants kisses and doesn't want Wilson to get any.
 

Clueless

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Feb 14, 2012
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0
Missouri
Parrots
Secret & MC, two blue front amazons
MC jibber jabbers a LOT. Secret chimes in with whistles and the two of them do a mean tune back and forth (operatic birds!). I'll have to pay attention since one reply indicated this jibber jabber could be them practicing words. I can tell you that from MC it sounds like he is on just a non-stop talking stream when he gets going.

While the jibber jabber does happen a lot in the evenings, it also can happen during the day.

They make me smile!
 

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