How much do your toos talk?

I have a grey who talks a lot, and I fostered a baby U2 for some time. The U2 made cute little grumbles but no real words. So cuddly!! I miss that fluff ball!
How much do your toos talk, make sounds, etc?

Ehhh chili isn't a chatterbox, but she isn't quiet either- if she's hanging out by herself thinking that nobody is really paying attention she'll jabber away.... Mostly about how pretty she is lol

She'll say "she's a pretty girl, pretty pretty girl" "I love you" "hey baby" kiss kiss kiss *wolf whistle* (she's quite the shmoozer)

And the list goes on....

My galah says "hello" which isn't usuallya greeting, it's a "I'm here, give me some of that" or "I'm here and would like to come out and visit" or "what on earth are you DOING?" or "not sure what's going on here, but I'm interested". She also says "ohhhh". At first I thought it was part of hello, but it's not, it's different. I don't know whether she picked that up from me or always said it, but it usually comes out after something has "happened" and I do say that to calm everybody down. That's it. 1.5 words. I thought I heard her "closet talking" one day, but now I'm not even sure that it was her and not somebody else. She really doesn't need a better vocabulary, because I understand what she's on about.

Her bird words are a little chirrup/whistle thing, and then the big yelling squawky honking thing when she's doing her "routine" and if I do something she doesn't like (like trying to do her manicure), she squeals.

One of the cockies (pink and greys, same as mine) up at City Farmers says "scratchy". I don't know whether that's her name or she's wanting scratchies (I give her one anyway), but that's all she says (to customers at least). The other one doesn't say anything.

Most of the time she's quiet. She just sits, and looks. She doesn't make much noise at all.

I know there are galahs who are big-time Chatty Cathies, but the ones I know stick to one word.

A few of my Goffins can utter a few words:

Gabby: Gabby, birdy
Abby: Abby
Squeaky: Squeaky, Big Bird, and a few unintelligible attempts.

Best Cockatoo talker is my male Citron, Gandalf: Gandalf, pretty bird, step up, Big Bird, hello, Gabby, what are you doing. He's pretty good at stringing the words appropriately, ie. step up Gandalf, Pretty bird Gandlaf, etc. He also has a wicked laugh.

Big fat ziltch from Alice... It's funny, I took her to my Mum's for Christmas where there were lots of people around and she kept gargling in my ear, as if she had noticed that other people got my attention by talking to me and she wanted to try it for herself, but as far as proper words are concerned nothing.

She does have her own language of squeaks and gestures that are easy enough to translate though.

Kazoo, our 15 year old Citron, talks and makes noise non-stop. We've only had her two months, so she came with most of her vocabulary, but has picked up a few things already.

What are you doing?, What's up, guys?, What's up, Doc?, Come here., Come over here., I DID NOT! (like a little kid), Bufie (that's what my wife calls Buford, our B&G macaw),and a bunch of other scrambled words. She also make lots of sounds. She barks like a big dog, yaps like a small dog, makes kazoo noises (that's how she got her name), whistles, wolf whistles, toots and various other squeaks and noises. And, she will scream.

Meanwhile, Buford, our 8 year old Blue and Gold, has three words. Hello, Step up, and Shut up. He used to yell at the dogs to shut up when they barked. Now he tells Kazoo to shut up. The first few times she listened. Now she ignores him.

My father in laws Goffin has a good vacabulary. He is 13 and is still picking up new words. My father in law has had him nearly three years, and there has been a few words he has heard once or twice.
My coworker had a U2,and from the stories she told, I would call her vocabulary exceptional.

Our friend has an Umbrella 'Too that talks, and talks, and talks. He has a great deal to say and, when he feels ignored, says it VERY LOUD!!! His repertoire is enormous, and he puts together words & phrases into sentences that are appropriate to the circumstances.

This can be VERY spooky - the first time you see it, you dismiss it as coincidence. The second time, you are a little spooked.

The third and subsequent times, you realize that he really DOES understand not only the words, but their abstract meanings & what they represent. After you've seen it hundreds of times, there is absolutely no doubt of this.

He doesn't make talking sounds...he actually talks, and understands what he's saying.

I have a u2 and she says hi with different inflections to denote interest, want or gain attention. We are working on the wolf whistle she will imitate me on the phone with blah blah blah blah.. .. . She does her death metal voice when i listen to that kind of music and she will sing off key with me and she will scream Ahhhhhhhh! When I say Ahhhhh godzilla! That is all so far.. .. right now she isleeping in the crook of my arm. Lol

My U2 says Hi, hi pea, hi peanut. Hello, hi baby, hi mom, I do good huh?, and sings/hums random music including the mcdonalds tune. Hubby heard her say I love you one time but I have not heard that yet. She also supposedly says some not so nice phrases but we arent promoting those and hubby heard her say one of them once...I have not heard it at all. It is from when her previous owner would yell at her for making noise...use your imagination....

strudel said:

My galah says "hello" which isn't usuallya greeting, it's a "I'm here, give me some of that" or "I'm here and would like to come out and visit" or "what on earth are you DOING?" or "not sure what's going on here, but I'm interested". She also says "ohhhh". At first I thought it was part of hello, but it's not, it's different. I don't know whether she picked that up from me or always said it, but it usually comes out after something has "happened" and I do say that to calm everybody down. That's it. 1.5 words. I thought I heard her "closet talking" one day, but now I'm not even sure that it was her and not somebody else. She really doesn't need a better vocabulary, because I understand what she's on about.

Her bird words are a little chirrup/whistle thing, and then the big yelling squawky honking thing when she's doing her "routine" and if I do something she doesn't like (like trying to do her manicure), she squeals.

One of the cockies (pink and greys, same as mine) up at City Farmers says "scratchy". I don't know whether that's her name or she's wanting scratchies (I give her one anyway), but that's all she says (to customers at least). The other one doesn't say anything.

Most of the time she's quiet. She just sits, and looks. She doesn't make much noise at all.

I know there are galahs who are big-time Chatty Cathies, but the ones I know stick to one word.

Click to expand...

Cute how they are all so different! I know what you mean by their "meanings" They use tone and opportunity to add a lot of context to what they say!!

mh434 said:

Our friend has an Umbrella 'Too that talks, and talks, and talks. He has a great deal to say and, when he feels ignored, says it VERY LOUD!!! His repertoire is enormous, and he puts together words & phrases into sentences that are appropriate to the circumstances.

This can be VERY spooky - the first time you see it, you dismiss it as coincidence. The second time, you are a little spooked.

The third and subsequent times, you realize that he really DOES understand not only the words, but their abstract meanings & what they represent. After you've seen it hundreds of times, there is absolutely no doubt of this.

He doesn't make talking sounds...he actually talks, and understands what he's saying.

Click to expand...

Really interesting! I didn't know that the toos said that much! Mine wasn't as talkative, but he was young.

RachaelR said:

They use tone and opportunity to add a lot of context to what they say!!

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Yes, and also body language when they are with you. The little cute face, and the eyes, and the head, and the climbing over with the "hello" is obviously, "ooh, look at that, can I have some?" when you've got food. The high-pitched "hello" with the alert posture when she's being carried about somewhere is obviously "oh boy, an adventure, what's all that stuff?" In her case, the word really doesn't add anything, she could be chirruping instead, it's more just me observing (or imagining ) what's she's thinking. The only time her 'hello' is like 'hello' is when she calls out from her cage when I'm going past and it's "hey, can I come out for a play? Come and say "hello" back".

I love watching bird "conversations" on youtube. There was this terrible cocky who swore like a trooper, he'd also learnt it from a not-so-great home environment and then been adopted. It was like a toddler tantrum. Hilarious on youtube, but not so much in real life if you have conservative guests and a parrot with a "potty-mouth" (as they say in America).

Butchie talks EXTREMELY well and can be quite polite and conversational. (when he's not screaming)
The RBC just makes "kerchunk" noises and something that sounds a bit like "peek-a-bird" but isn't clear.

The CAG has a huge vocabulary and actually mocks Butchie in his Butchie's own voice!!
The only other resident that talks is Budgie Niles.. He has a larger vocabulary but it's just chatter, not conversational..

my girl is only a litter over a year, but so far she will say "step up", "pretty girl"," Who's a pretty girl" and makes kiss noises. She is very animated about it!

Sounds like some of them talk pretty well. How clear is their speech? What is the voice like?

RachaelR said:

Sounds like some of them talk pretty well. How clear is their speech? What is the voice like?

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Three of my four 'toos that speak have gravelly voices you would never mistake for human. However Gabby, the oldest Goffin offspring has a very clear little-boy voice. Unfortunately all he says is "Gabby" and "Birdy."

My girl's "hello" is very clear. Her other things not so much. I think she said "what're you doing?" yesterday, but she only did it the once, so I don't know what it was. It wasn't "hello", that's for sure.

Her voice is quite clear, it isn't that sort of "tape-like" quality that my smaller birds have. (I hope you know what I mean. She sounds more like a person than the little birds, who sound like tape-recordings)

EDIT: this bird says a few things at 1-1.20-ish. My girl sounds similar to him.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ7ZEqXG40k"]Galah Talking & Waving - YouTube[/ame]

strudel said:

My girl's "hello" is very clear. Her other things not so much. I think she said "what're you doing?" yesterday, but she only did it the once, so I don't know what it was. It wasn't "hello", that's for sure.

Her voice is quite clear, it isn't that sort of "tape-like" quality that my smaller birds have. (I hope you know what I mean. She sounds more like a person than the little birds, who sound like tape-recordings)

EDIT: this bird says a few things at 1-1.20-ish. My girl sounds similar to him.

Galah Talking & Waving - YouTube

Click to expand...

She is beautiful!! and her voice is very cute!!

My moluccan mumbles, but I can't make it out at all. She does click a lot, which is her version of a kiss sound. And she makes a distinct whistle noise that isn't common to humans, but I can repeat back. She's a rescue with a huge bare area across her entire head. Often times I'll kiss it to match her clicking and then say "gotcha" in a high-pitch tone that matches her most common two-syllable mumble. She's 20 years old, so hopefully she'll work on it an anunciate enough one day to say it back.

Then again, along with the bare spot, she has one badly damaged ear, and the other I'm not sure about but probably muffled at best. So she may not hear clearly enough to talk properly.